Run of the Mill
by Oil Pastel
Summary: A new school, a new life - but there's no leaving behind the past for Kai Hiwatari. Haunted by familiar faces of the past, Kai tries to move on, but it's difficult to shake off what won't let go.
1. Inconspicuous Olive Bushes

Hullo! Erm . . . this is obviously Oil Pastel, bringing you yet another fic. You'll notice that if you read my other B-Blade fic (Strange Circumstances) I got bored of it and deleted it. Not a good message to you readers (if there are any . . .) about me. Lol. But I will honestly try to finish this. No promises though. Lol. Just kidding ya! Ha! I'm so popular I even give shout outs now! 

Right, the stuff written in '/'s are Kai's thoughts, okay? Just needed to get that sorted out! lol

Linz/S.D: (You better be reading this!) Erm . . . this isn't about a treadmill factory! Lol. Horrid trick on my behalf, don't blame Jenny. I'm the evil one here. Lol. So no hard feeling, eh? Lol. You are an amazing author and I would be honoured if you gave me an honest critique for this firkin thing! Lol. Hugs and kisses etc. 

Jenny/S.M: Why should I give you a shout out? You're watching me type this thing! Sitting on my swingy yellow chair in my beautiful house, chewing on my nails……. Oh wait, they're yours…… oops! ^_^*

Disclaimer: (This'll be the only one, so take a long hard look at it) ME NO OWN. 

Thanx, leave a review at the end! 

Oil Pastel x x x

Chapter One; Inconspicuous Olive Bushes 

"Kai! If you drop that box then I'll drop you on your head!" a shrill voice could be heard from inside the house. 

"Sorry," came the response, not wanting to cause trouble on the first day of living with his aunt. 

"Stop chattin' and start moving!"

/How was I even talking? Oh boy, I'm gonna have fun here./

Kai hauled his stuff through the light wooden door and experienced a silent battle getting the box up the stairs to his lime-green room. When he got there he dropped the load on the floor and winced as he heard a smashing sound emit from it. 

/Not my problem./ 

He felt it was painful to look at his bedroom walls in case it blinded him. Dusting his hands off, he walked casually down the stairs, running his hand along the highly polished banister. 

"KAI!"

He sighed. The high-pitched tone that his aunt insisted on having was beginning to grate on his nerves.

"Yeah?" he shouted back in a monotonous manner.

"D'ya want a drink?" Maud said, coming through to the hallway wiping her hands on a kitchen tea towel. 

He nodded and walked out to get some more of his stuff from the white van that was parked outside in the pouring rain. 

After the World Championships in Moscow earlier that year, Kai had been forced to abandon his home with his grandfather, Voltaire. Now the old man was behind bars, Kai's only option had been to move in with his nearest living relative, Aunt Maud, in her house in Grassville, America. Not that he was complaining, he was right by his team; well, about a ten minute walk away. 

Grabbing the last box left in the van, he slammed the door shut with his foot and walked back to the house with it. He was just about to walk through the door when -

"Hey, Kai!" 

/WHAT NOW?/

Kai dropped the brow cardboard box in frustration and turned around sighing.

"What?" he asked sharply.

"If that's how you treat your friends I'd hate to be you enemy," said a friendly Rei, smiling at Kai from his stance, leaning against the gate of the driveway.

Kai just turned around and walked inside to pick up the box once again. Rei took this as an invitation to go inside. 

"So, does that mean you've finished unpacking all your stuff?" Rei shouted up to Kai from the hallway.

Kai dropped the last box onto his bed and dusted his black trousers off.

"Yeah," Kai replied when he reached the bottom step of the stairs.

Rei grinned. "GUYS! It's okay! He's finished now!" he shouted to the inconspicuous olive bushes that were in the front garden. 

Three other figures struggled out of the bushes and one by one dusted themselves off. 

"Phew, Kai, you sure take a long time to unpack . . . " Tyson said, concentrating on rubbing off the brown mud stain that was on his red jacket.

/Well, if they offered to help me it would have taken a lot less time. No, wait, we are talking about Tyson here. . ./

"Yeah. Work is something you're just not used to, Tyson," Kai said, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe casually. 

"What are you wearing Kai?" Tyson asked, looking at Kai as if he had grown an extra head.

"Clothes," Kai replied.

Tyson look distastefully up and down at Kai's body. He was wearing black baggy pants and a black t-shirt that read 'T-Shirts Are Over' on it. His shoes were not very visible underneath the baggy jeans, but they looked . . . black. He had his silver stud in his left ear and his hair was its usual messy self.

"Yeah, we got that," Max said, picking the leaves out of his dirty blonde hair.

/All that to get out of helping me? I guess this means I should invite them inside./

Kai walked away from them and signalled over his shoulder for them to come inside. 

"Kai? Is that you? Who have you got in here now? K--a--i?" Maud shouted from the kitchen.

Kai sighed. 

/Just a few more years, just a few more years . . ./

"If that's you Kai, just go through to the lounge and watch some TV. I need you out of my way for a while so I can clean the house up!"

Kai turned back to the lounge where his friends had seated themselves on the cream sofa and were laughing at him. 

"Kai? KAI?" mimicked Max in a high-pitched voice.

"Have you put those boxes away?" Tyson whined.

"Don't forget to turn the TV off after you've watched it Kai!" Rei imitated.

"Have you cleaned you room yet Kai? Kai? KAI?" Kenny said, and burst into laughter again.

"Kai?" the real Maud shouted. "Kai? Do you have girls in there, Kai?"

Kai groaned. 

"Gosh, it's a good job you don't have a really long name, otherwise your aunt would take ages to talk to you," Rei said, chuckling as Tyson was flicking through the TV channels.

Kai sat down and stared dully at the screen. It was large and fitted in with the beige lounge. He really couldn't be bothered entertaining. Kai looked at the photo of his mother's family that was hanging perfectly straight on the wall.  Without warning the doorbell rang with the annoying tune of the American National Anthem.

"Kai? Could you get that?" squealed his aunty from the kitchen.

/I wonder what she'd say if I said no?/

He got to his feet and walked to the door, but on his way he tilted the photo frame on the wall so it wasn't so regulated. Everything in the house seemed to be stiflingly synchronized. He opened the door with a bored look.

"HEY THERE!" said a cheesy salesman with a red suit on and a wide grin. "I couldn't help but notice that you've just moved house, and I thought 'Oh, what awful windows!' I couldn't just do nothing, and seeing as I am a windows salesman I thought it would be great to call here!"

Kai looked at the nametag that the man was wearing. 

"Um . . . Bob? Aren't you the guy who fitted these windows about a year ago?" Kai lied tactfully.

Bob's smile faded a little.

"Oh . . .  uh . . . I am?"

Kai nodded and closed the door in his face. He didn't pause to listen to the muffled "Surely I can re-fit them for you!" and went to sit back down in the corner armchair. As soon as he sat down the doorbell rang yet again. Without instruction from his aunt, he got up once more from the chair, expecting it to be the salesman.

He dragged himself to the front door and opened it with a scowl. 

He was faced with a girl who came up to about his shoulders with drenched, brown frizzy hair and mascara running down from her brown eyes. She had a smile plastered to her face - which was not particularly stunning and was in fact, rather plain. Kai looked blankly at the drenched bag of sugar that she was clutching in one of her hands, which were pink from the cold.

"Um . . . –" 

"HI! I'm Betty Lockwood, but you can just call me Woody, everybody else does! You know, Woody . . . like, from Toy Story . . ." she trailed off waiting for a response, and began picking at a piece of fluff on the arm of her blue jumper in an almost nervous manner.

/What? Toy Story? What the hell's that?/

Kai gave her a frown and continued to scowl as she carried on talking. 

"Anyway . . . welcome to Grassville! Here, I brought you some sugar- " Woody got cut off by the loud clanging noise as she dropped the sugar clumsily on the floor when she went to give it to Kai. She bent down and picked it up. "-To welcome you here!" she continued.

Kai looked at the sugar with one eyebrow raised sceptically, but didn't take it from her hands, which shook from the cold. 

/Is the sugar supposed to help me unpack? What's the point?/ 

"KAI? Who's at the door?" Maud shouted.

Before Kai could reply Maud came to look for herself.

"Woody! How are you? Why are you here? Do you want to come in? Kai! How could you just leave her standing there in the rain! Get in before you catch your death!"

Woody just smiled.

"No, it's okay Mrs. Neale, I'm going now anyway. Just decided to give the newcomer some sugar!" Woody declined politely. 

"Aww, you're so sweet dear. Now, are you sure you don't want to come in?" Maud said, finally taking the sugar that had been held out by Woody for some time now.

/What is it with sugar? It's just sugar./

"No, I'm okay. See you around," she said to Kai and walked back across the road to her home.

Kai rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut. 

/Hmm . . . friendly./

***************************************************************************************

The figure hid behind a large oak tree as a girl scurried back down the pathway in the pouring rain, and pelted across the road to get out of the rain. When he heard the front door to the house that he was appointed to watch shut, the red head peered around another tree that was in the front garden of the house. The teen smirked and took a look at his surroundings whilst impatiently running a hand through his drenched hair. It took a while to find, but he had found this place in the end. Not wanting to be in the rain for any longer, the red head threw one last look over his shoulder at the house as he ran back to get back to where he came from. 

The red head yanked his form back behind the tree, breathing heavily. Had those crimson eyes just set a look on him? Had he been found?

Cautiously, after a minute of so, the red head glanced back around the tree. To his relief, action in the living room had continued as normal. He was safe. 

"I've found you, Hiwatari," he muttered, his ice blue eyes darkening.  

Ooh- 'eck! Dun dun dun! Leave a damn review, I have the next chapter ready- all I need is reviews.

Oh, and I would like to say hi to my cousin Sam, damn that natural blonde! Lol, just kidding! She's about ten by the way……… oops! ^_^*

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!


	2. A 'New' School

Hello! Wow, it seems I am updating this pretty quick! Lol. Erm… I'd just like to thank all of my loyal fans *sniff*.

Thanx.

Just kidding yer!

Sherbet Mayhem: I can give you a real than you now that you aren't watching me type this. Erm… your review was CRAP!

Vampyre Neko: Thank you very much! Your review was the first one I had from an unknown person! Thank you so much! *hands out Kai cookies* Here is the next chappie for yer!

Scarlet Diamonds: Shouldn't your name really be 'Rubies'? Lol. Erm… what to talk about! I know! Hot chocolate. Apparently you are forever making it in your kitchen (or so Jenny tells me). Not only that but you have the blatant poor manners to not even appear in your review! Lol. Say thank you to Rei and Kai. Not you. I'm glad you find this funny, Kai and Rei. Nicky doesn't even want to talk to me about it anymore! Lol. Have a nice day hun! Though it might not be as jam-packed as mine. Oooh! I'll email yer again to tell you what happened today (Wednesday). I'm helping out in school tomorrow- so something's bound to go wrong!

Amy85: Ah, my loyal reviewer. You have seemed to read almost all of my fics! Thank you so much gurlie! Jack's Treasure should be updated soon… note the 'should'! Lol. Thanx!

Here is the next chapter- ENJOY! Oh, and me no ownie thisie thingie!

Chapter Two; A 'New' School

The shrill ringing of an alarm clock woke Kai up. Groaning, he rolled over and blindly reached out to cease the horrible noise. When he had succeeded in his task, he set to getting out of bed. Hmmm… how to get out of this one.

High School.

Who needs to get out of bed?

Kai ignored his brain telling him that it was okay to fall back asleep again and walked to the en suite bathroom. When he got in there the first thing he did was run the cold water tap and put his wrists underneath it; as it usually woke him up. After he did this he carried on with his preparations of getting ready for the daunting day ahead of him.

Kai frowned when he was putting his black t-shirt on and mulled over the strange dream he had last night. He couldn't remember much of it. Kai used to dream it all the time, but ever since the Russian tournament it had ceased to occur. However, without warning or trigger, he had begun to dream it again. Every time he woke up, he couldn't remember anything about the dream, haunting as he knew it was, other than the fact that he was about four years old when it took place. Every morning he woke up with this dry scream in his mouth without even understanding why. 

He shook the thoughts off and carried on getting ready for school, pulling on a pair of black trousers. He wasn't sure whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that he was in the same school as his teammates. However this did not faze him, seeing as he was not obliged to talk to anybody. 

After eating a bowl of cereal and pondering over the thought that his room was probably the only badly decorated room in the house (why? Lime green... why?) he grabbed his empty schoolbag, said his goodbyes and left the house, ignoring his aunt's shouts of "Be cool; stay in school!"

He cringed and walked down the street, hoping that nobody else had heard that. As soon as he rounded the corner, he bumped into a figure, making both himself and the other person go flying. 

/What a great start to the day./

"Oh, sorry! That was my fault- I was looking, but I didn't see you," said a female voice, strangely familiar to him. 

He pulled a face to himself. 

/No, not her. Not HER! It's too early.../

"Kai? Is that you? What a coincidence, I didn't think I'd be bumping into you this early!" Woody said, and chuckled at her own joke. 

Kai sighed as he got to his feet, studying what she was wearing. She had a black skirt on that came to just about her knees and a shiny pair of black flat shoes. Her plain white top was dazzlingly white, along with her ankle socks.  

"So, are you heading for school Kai? Which school do you go to?" Woody asked politely.

"Um . . . as there is only one school in this town, I think it's a safe bet that I go to the same school as you do, Woody," Kai said dryly.

Woody's face lit up into smile.

"Really? What a coincidence! Well, see ya there Kai!" she said, and set off walking past Kai. 

Kai shook his head and walked his own way to school, which was the opposite way to where Woody was heading. Kai paused, thinking it through for a second. They were both heading to school... but in the opposite direction. Hmmmm...

Kai looked behind him and just in time to see a brown plait turn another corner. He backtracked and went the way that Woody was going. It took a while for her to notice that Kai was following her. 

"Oh, hello again Kai. Want to walk with me? We are both going to the same place after all," she asked.    

Instead of answering he walked up next to her. 

"So, how long are you planning to stay here for?" she asked after a few minutes walking in silence.

/Yeah, good question. It's just I don't know the answer to it./

Kai shrugged. "A couple of years," he said. 

"Oh," Woody said lamely, and carried on walking in yet another silence.

To her, the silence was uncomfortable, but to Kai it was a welcomed one.

A tall building loomed ahead of them, and Kai took some time to study it.

This, he presumed, was going to be his new school. The words "Grassville High" were written in a blue font with a white background that stood out against the old dark brickwork. The red rusted gates were swung open to reveal the school's main grand entrance that had lions engraved on the wall on each side of the dark wooden double doors. A number of windows already had the classroom lights on inside, and Kai estimated that there were about ten or so windows that could be seen from where he was standing. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow. 

"Small, isn't it?" Kai said.

Woody smiled.

"Well, yeah. It's a small town," she said, walking through the gates and towards the entrance. 

Kai strolled in casually, taking in the décor of his school-to-be. To his surprise it was quite... bland. All the walls were covered in a pale yellow, giving the room a slightly warm feeling. The floor was covered in grey slate that was cold to look at, and even colder to walk on. Woody led him to the main office that was to the right of the hall. Kai followed her to the reception desk. 

A middle-aged woman greeted him with blonde hair that barely brushed past her shoulders, and had warm grey eyes surrounded by laughter lines. She smiled pleasantly at him, and Kai scowled back at her. 

"Hello Woody. Who's this you have here?" the woman asked with a slight lisp.

"Hi Miss. This is um..." Woody trailed off and looked at Kai, not knowing if he wanted to introduce himself or not.

_/What, does she expect an introduction?/_

Kai looked at both of their faces that in turn were looking at him expectantly. 

_/I wonder what they would do if I danced right now?/_

Kai got lost in his thoughts for a moment, which involved him in a Russian hat, arms folded, knees bent and feet kicking out hysterically. He smiled to himself when he noticed the monkey with a money tin perched in the corner, and he tried not to bob along to the Russian music that was playing in his head.

The receptionist seemed delighted at the 'communication' they had made. Before he could stop her she grabbed his hand and started to shake it violently.

Woody noticed the cold glare that Kai was giving the receptionist.

"Hello there. I'm Mrs. Yeknom. And who might you be?" she asked, finally letting go of his crushed hand. 

"Kai," he answered, and folded his arms.

"Well, Kai, you must Kai Hiwatari!" Mrs. Yeknom said.

"Uh... Yeah," Kai answered. 

_/She already knew my name?/_

"Seeing as you're new here, Grassville High would like to give you a REALLY warm welcome!" she exclaimed.

Kai flinched as she shouted the 'REALLY' part quite loudly, and carried on scowling as soon as he recovered. He then looked at the timetable that had been thrust into his hand. He felt someone push him into another corridor, and noticed that it was actually the receptionist. 

He sighed and brushed himself off. Only then did he see that Woody was gone. 

Kai looked at his timetable; well at least he tried to. It was suddenly snatched out of his hands and he looked angrily at the air that should have been his timetable. He turned around slowly, facing the person with a scowl. 

"Oh, Rei. It's you," Kai looked at Rei who was dressed in white and black just like everyone else,  and noticed that his eyes were streaming. "What's up?"

Rei sniffed sadly. "It was awful... "

Kai frowned. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Well... it all began this morning. I got up and had a wash and then got dre- -" Rei was cut of by an impatient Kai

"Yeah. I get the gist. What _happened_?"

"Well, it turns out I have hay fever!" Rei said, a scandalised look on his handsome face. 

Kai looked blankly at Rei. 

"Is that it?" he asked.

Silence.

"Well, it is kinda important," Rei said after a while of Kai just staring in annoyance. "I mean... what if I want to sunbathe in a field one day and-"

Kai just walked away sighing.

"KAI! You're class is the other way!" Rei shouted.

Kai just walked back past Rei, still ignoring him.

****************************************************************************************

He watched the two boys greet each other in the corridor, and smirked. He still hadn't been discovered. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone walk up to him.

"You're late," the red headed boy said. 

"No, you're just early," said a female voice.

"Don't forget what the plan is," the male said in a cold voice.

"Have I ever let you down?" the girl asked and laughed before walking away again.

****************************************************************************************

Kai looked around his new form room. It was a cold blue colour and the grey slates were also in this room. He figured that the slate ran throughout the whole of the school. 

Kai looked out of the window. He was sitting at the back of the class slumped in his seat not paying attention to the teacher that was calling out the register. He decided to listen to his music for a while, as there was nothing else to do. Just as he was getting his Walkman out of his bag, the teacher shouted out his name.

"Hiwatari, Kai!" 

The class turned to look at him and he looked up from his bag, frozen where he was. His face held no expression of his embarrassment.

"Yeah," he answered and looked back down at his bag again, not wanting everybody to carry on staring at him. 

"Ah, Mr. Hiwatari," his plump male form tutor said in a strict voice. His fat hands were clasped neatly in front of him, he and was looking at Kai through his reading glasses that were halfway down his nose. "New here then?"

Kai nodded and gave up on finding his music.

_/Why does everyone here like to state the obvious?/_

"Well, would like to introduce yourself to the class?" Mr. Whiting said, his balding head shining in the light.

"No," Kai said as he picked up a pen and began to draw in his sketchbook. 

The class giggled and looked at the teacher's reaction. They got what they wanted.

"Mr. Hiwatari, you _will_ stand up and tell us about yourself," he said through gritted teeth. 

/No, I won't./

Instead of voicing his thoughts Kai sat up in his chair, and cleared his throat.

"My name's Kai," he said in his usual clear voice.

The class tittered again.

"Stand up Hiwatari," the teacher said.

Kai sighed and stood up half heartedly, leaning forwards on his hands in a lazy manner. 

"Now, you will tell us something about yourself," Mr. Whiting said, smiling sickly. 

"What do you want me to say?" Kai asked.

"_Introduce yourself_," the teacher hissed in a deadly voice. 

However, Kai did not seem fazed by this.

"But you already know that I'm Kai," he replied.

"Yes, but tell us about yourself, young man."

_/Hi, my name's Kai. __I have an evil grandfather that tried to kill my teammates and me and take over the world. If you value your life you will stay away from me./_

"I'm new here," Kai said. 

The teacher looked like he was about to explode, his chins were wobbling, and the fact that the class was still laughing didn't exactly help. Instead of shouting at Kai, he took several deep breaths and calmed himself down before speaking.

"Good. Now sit down and in future, stand up straight," Whiting said, walking over to his desk and started to look for something. "Hold your hand out Hiwatari, and come to the front of the class."

Kai frowned and did what he was told. It un-nerved him a little because the class fell into a tense silence, and all eyes fell on him. Standing at the front of the class, leaning against the wall with one hand held out, he saw Rei trying to catch his eye. Kai shrugged and raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Rei looked very panicked. 

It was then that Kai noticed that the whole class had a certain uniform. White tops and black trousers or skirts, they looked like a comic book. It was also then that Kai caught sight of the teacher turning from the desk with a long wooden stick held in his hand.

Kai looked from the teacher to the class and then back to the teacher.

"What's this about?" he asked.

Mr. Whiting just stepped towards him.

"Palm up, Hiwatari," he said menacingly.

"Why?" Kai asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. 

"White top, black trousers for boys, and skirts for girls. What part of that school rule says 'Hiwatari, you may wear a black top'?" Whiting said, in an almost gloating manner. 

"Um... what?" Kai asked, looking at Rei.

"Sorry, I forgot!" Rei mouthed apologetically, using hand gestures to try and make his apology seem more sincere. 

"Palm _up_," the teacher said, and Kai tried not to notice the sadistic tone in his voice. 

Kai obliged reluctantly, but recoiled when the teacher raised the stick.

"Wait, caning is illegal," Kai protested. 

The teacher laughed.

"It seems _that _was another thing Kon forgot to tell you. This is one of the only schools left in the United States that allows caning," Whiting sneered. "So, this is the last time I am going to ask. _Palm up_,"

His heart pounding, Kai stretched out his steady hand. He wasn't afraid of pain, never had been, but he couldn't help but feel this was a little unjust on his first day. In fact, it was only registration.

Even so, no matter how unafraid he was, Kai couldn't help closing his eyes in a grimace when the stick whacked down upon his hand. 

And then raised again. 

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! 

Bit of a cliff-hanger there!

Might update- just as you might review!

Btw, can anybody spot the hidden word?????

REVIEW!!!!

Thank you xxxxx


	3. Like Chalk and Cheese

Heloooooooooooo everybody! How have you all been? I've been great myself… went to a party of Friday, slept out on Friday… went to a party of Saturday…. Came home on Sunday. Ya get the picture? So I have had this chapter ready for a while now- just the fact that I had no time to put it up sort of deterred me even more. 

So, in no particular order, I shall thank my reviewers!

Michellelinzian: um… that's a nice name you got there. Lol, are there three of you, or did you just make it up? Ah well, names do not matter as I have to thank you so very much for making my story seem even more popular that it is. Lol. Thankies to you!

Scarlet Diamonds: halo stranger! Where have you been? Is your email account off or something? Or have you *sniff* got a life and left me and Jenny behind? Lol, jk! So, hello and a very big thank you to Rei (droolies) and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… mmmmmmmmmmm… Kai! Yum! And Tala! Woosh, he is what I call FINE! And you of course! Lol. Email me soon; I miss your little name being in my email inbox! Lol. Thanx! 

Vampyre Neko: Hello again! How have you been? Yes, I did hurt Kai, but only a little! Wink wink. Lol. No, Kai cannot deck the teacher, as you so delicately put it. Lol. Ah well, we all think that the teachers are evil anyway- with cane or without! Thank you very much for your review- it is much appreciated! Amy85: Oh, so he's _your_ Kai now, is he? Grrr! Must… be… nice… to… reviewer… phew. Lol. I'm glad you liked it though, well I think you did anyway… thank you so much for your little review there! Anyway! There is an alarming and pressing matter that I must speak about at the and of the chapter! GO AND READ! Oh, and me no ownie… But I have my dreams. Chapter Three; Like chalk and cheese 

The lunchtime bell rang out loudly through the empty corridors and the muffled sound of chairs scraping and students racing to get out of the classrooms could be heard. 

Kai got up out of his chair from his Math lesson and followed Rei out of the classroom to lunch. He looked down at his hand and flexed it a little. Three large red marks were forming on the palm of his right hand, which had made it difficult to write with. He walked with Rei up to the dinner queue where he spotted three familiar faces. 

"Over here!" Kenny signalled, and pointed for them to get in the queue with Max and Tyson.

Rei smiled gratefully, whilst Kai scowled to himself. 

"Kai, I heard you got the cane on your first day!" Tyson said grabbing Kai's hand to see the damage.

"Wrong hand, Tyson," Kai said, and smirked. "Right hand," he slipped his injured hand into his pocket. 

Tyson's face fell.

"NEXT!" a gravely voice shouted to Tyson, who until then, had been busy trying to get Kai's hand.

Immediately Tyson's eyes widened and he spun round to order his load of food. Rei and Kenny rolled their eyes at the same time and sighed.

"Who let Tyson order first?" Max muttered under his breath. "Now we'll have nothing to eat!"

When Tyson had finished telling the dinner lady what he wanted (due to the fact that Max had kicked him in the shin) the others could only have salad.

The boys walked into the hall and looked for a place to sit. There was only one table that was relatively empty, and when the bladers approached that table, the people that had sat there moved as they had finished their dinner. 

The five boys sat down and chatted about their day. Kai just sat and ate his food, occasionally talking when spoken to. He studied the surrounding hall. Even this place had the grey slate running through it. However, the walls were white with a few scuffmarks here and there where students wanted to dirty the walls in some form of rebellion. Kai rolled his eyes at the thought.

"Hey Kai. Is it okay if I sit here?" 

Kai turned to face the girl and shrugged, scooting down the bench to give Woody some more room.

"Thanks. Are these your friends?" Woody asked, looking at each of the Blade Breakers. 

"Yeah," Kai said. "This is my team, Rei, Tyson, Kenny and Max," he introduced.

Woody looked at him dumbly. 

"Yeah, I know them," she said.

Kai frowned. 

"Why did you ask me then?" he replied.

"No, I asked if they were your friends. I know them already," she repeated herself slowly as if talking to a stupid person. 

Kai mentally twitched. In his mind, an image of himself in an animal cage in the circus and people talking about him as if he wasn't there, and making such comments as "Aww! Look at the dumb animal!" People pointed at him. In the corner, he could hear a monkey laughing and pointing at him. 

"Kai?" Rei asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Huh?" Kai said, snapping out of his daydream. 

The others just rolled their eyes and laughed. 

"Who are you waiting for?" Tyson asked Woody.

Whom.

Kai rolled his eyes at the lack of Tyson's lack of grammatical knowledge. 

"Well-" Woody began, but was cut off by someone shouting her name.

"Woody!" a small girl with glasses shouted loudly over the hall.

Many heads turned towards the sound of the voice, but the small girl seemed unfazed. Who knew such a loud voice could come from a small black hoody wearing girl? She was swamped in her overly baggy blue jeans that dragged along behind her and were ripped at the bottom, as her legs were too small. Her large hazel eyes were surrounded by black eyeliner that flicked out at the sides to make her huge eyes look even bigger. She had a small oval face and dark blue, almost midnight black hair. Through the inky blueness of the girl's hair, glimpses of a slanted purple fringe produced. Over all- Kai thought she had shrunk in the wash. He couldn't see her figure behind her baggy clothes, but her got the impression that she was quite curvy. Her eyebrows were pristinely plucked, and her hair came to her chin and shined healthily in the dim light. The girl's glasses were slightly wonky on her face, and her teeth were perfectly straight. 

Woody acknowledged the girl with a beaming smile and signalled for her to come over.

"Hey!" Woody said cheerfully.

"Heylooooooooooooooooo!" the girl said with such energy that Kai was sure she was on drugs. He winced. 

"Where's Sara, Jen?" Woody asked, tucking into her salad. 

Jenny glared before answering. 

"She left me," Jenny said, and began eating.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Woody smiled and tutted sympathetically.

Kai frowned yet again. Rei tried not to smile and Kenny just began typing on Dizzi. 

"You know I can't walk on my own," Jenny said through a mouthful of food. "I have no confidence!"

Kai looked at Jenny's outfit again. For one that didn't have confidence she sure dressed to stand out. 

"Didn't you get the cane for what you're wearing?" Kai asked.

"Nah! They can't be bothered with me anymore. They gave up a good few years ago…" Jenny trailed off, smiling fondly at the memory that was playing through her mind. 

A group of boys from the next table began shouting someone over to their table and nudging each other.

"This'll be her," Woody said, and Jenny turned around in time to see someone walk out of the hall. 

A girl wearing a pink skirt that came to about three inches above the knee and cream flat suede boots with buckles on them that reached the middle of her tanned calf came into view. Her long legs didn't make the skirt look too short and she wore a cream top with a pink coat decorated with huge cream retro buttons to finish off the look. She looked over to the table with the boys on and smiled prettily at them, walking over towards their table. Her dark brown hair that reached just past her shoulders shimmered when the light that peeked through the closed curtains hit it, and the tips of it were a light blonde. Her eyes, like Jenny's, were outlined with eyeliner and had a flick, only it was a lot neater and matched her outfit to make her look like a 60's wild child. Her brown eyes lit up when she saw someone on the other table, and her rosy cheeks went slightly redder. She said a few word to them and walked over to Woody and Jenny, laughing when some of the boys were still saying things to her.

"Hey guys," Sara said, finally taking a seat between Rei and Jenny. 

Rei's cheeks flushed slightly when she smiled at him and said hello. 

Sara seems to be pretty popular… why is she hanging around with Woody and Jenny? 

Kai studied Sara closely. From where he was sitting opposite to him, he could smell her strong perfume, and noted that her red cheeks were actually natural. She wore pink lipstick that made her white teeth even whiter, and she smiled about something. 

Oh no… we have a prep.

Rei was listing to what she was saying.

"Ohmygod!" she said. "That was Shane!"

Kai switched off.

The girls carried on chatting about something whilst the others continued eating. Suddenly, their conversation was broken off by a:

"Someone ordered all of the fries by the time I got there! You know I hate salad!" Jenny said, whining.

Tyson pulled at his collar and quickly stuffed the last fry into his mouth before she noticed. 

"Oh my word Jenny! Just shut it and eat!" Sara muttered.

"Here, you can have my cake," Woody offered.

"No thanks, I'm on a diet," Jenny declined. 

"So, what happened?" Woody asked Sara.

Kai switched off again and turned back to his teams' conversation. 

"What lesson do we have next?" Tyson asked Max and Kenny.

"Um… drama," Kenny replied after looking it up on his computer.

Max beamed. 

"Yay! We get the best drama teacher this year!" Max said excitedly, "Mr. Drater!"

"What do you guys have?" Tyson asked Rei and Kai, as they were in the year above him. 

"English," Rei answered after a glance at his timetable. "Oh no, we have Miss. Evans."

"What's so bad about Miss. Evans?" Kai muttered.

"The 'Miss' speaks volumes. She's ugly, so she's horrible," Tyson said, laughing. 

"You shouldn't talk about people like that," Kenny scolded. 

"But she is…" Tyson trailed off guiltily and made a face at Kenny.

There was movement beside Rei, and Kai looked to find Sara and Jenny leaving, Jenny now busily munching on the cake whilst Sara was scolding her. She then asked for a piece herself. They waved another goodbye at Woody and walked out of the hall side by side. They looked like such an odd couple together. 

Kai noticed Rei's gaze linger on the pair for a moment before returning it to Kai with a sheepish smile. 

"Where are those two off to?" Rei asked.

Woody swallowed what she was eating before answering. 

"Um… they're going to practise with their blades," Woody answered and ate more macaroni from her plate. 

This got a few raised eyebrows from the Blade-Breakers.

Woody looked surprised.

"Didn't you know? They're called Contrario. That's why Jenny is known across the school too. Otherwise, uh-oh. She'd be nada. They are quite odd though; cute!"

Kai raised an eyebrow. 

Cute wasn't the word he would've used. 

"Yeah, apparently they know this girl called Lindsay, but no one has ever seen her. Only _they _have ever seen her…" Woody paused for effect. "Personally, I think they made her up."

She laughed to herself and shook her head, before getting up and dumping half of her lunch in the trash. 

"Bye!" she threw over her shoulder and went in the same direction as Sara and Jenny did. 

Tyson raised his eyebrows and looked at his fellow teammates. They were all thinking the same thing.

"We're all thinking the same thing," said Tyson nodding sagely. 

"Um… if we are then we should follow those two," Kenny advised.

Tyson's proud face fell slightly.

"I thought we were going back to the cafeteria."

Once again, eye rolling commenced and the team took off in search of the two girls, Tyson following closely behind complaining that he hadn't eaten enough. 

The Blade-Breakers got outside into the small gravelled area where a blading dish had been set up. About twenty people were crowded around and watching the heated Bey Battle that was taking place. They couldn't see the dish, but the Blade-Breakers could see a strange shadow blasting out from the dish. As they watched, they heard a strange, otherworldly wail that seemed somehow to echo from the shadow. All of a sudden a beyblade flew out of the dish and the shadow was left in the dish. 

Tyson and the gang pushed their way to the front of the crowd and stared down at the dish. There was a cry of "Etherealea, return!" and the silver blade soared out of the dish into its master's hands, clad in black and blue stripy fingerless gloves. 

The Blade-Breakers found themselves looking at Jenny standing in a proud stance, and Sara was nearby giving her a small smile. 

Jenny turned to them and looked directly at Kai, and from behind her Sara called:

"So, _Blade-Breakers_, think you're up to the challenge?" 

Hehehehe, so you like. Ooooh, two new characters. Oh and Linz, Jenny told me to add you to it! But if you like it then it's my idea. 

**DID ANYONE SPOT THE HIDDEN WORD???????**

I asked people this and nobody replied! Grrr. Lol. In the last chapter it was:

Mrs. Yeknom.

Which is monkey- but backwards. Remember? Kai had a little vision of himself doing Russian dancing? 

Anyway, do you find those things funny? The little vision thingies? If you want me to stop them then I will…

So, leave a review and tell me what you think? Good, bad, funny, sad, crap, etc.  

JUST LEAVE A DAMN REVIEW!

Lol.

Oh, and don't forget the hidden word! 

^_^


	4. Ethereal Battle

Howdy-hoooo! How are you all? Yes! I finally have the next chapter to this thing… grrrr… battles are hard to write…for me anyway! ^_^* 

I have to give thanx now!

Lost without you NOT: Wow, it sounds like you're pretty ill… lol. Um… wow, thank you so very much for your lovely review. I just hope you're not dead yet! Lol. Thankies! 

Othela: Wow, cool. I'm glad you got the hidden word. Hold on a second… you've read WAR haven't you? _That's_ where I know you from… I think. Lol. me and Sherbet Mayhem are bestest buddies out of skule. Small world innit? Thank you very much for taking time to review this hunk-o-junk! ^_^

Amy85: Thanx. No, Sara isn't going to be a couple with Kai. Lol. oh! Hold on a sec- you're the Spanish one! Hello there! I'm ½ Spanish you know, and it was my first language. I lived in Almeria for 6 years and then I moved to Benidorm (La Cala De Finistrat) for a year! The land of the golden shoes…. *shudder*. Wow, your English is very good. Thank you so very much for your kind words there… erm… yeah. I hurt Kai, didn't I? Lol.

Jasmine: I'm happy that you find this funny! It makes me happy and fuzzy inside when people say that they like my stuff. The daydreams are cool, huh? Scrubs inspired me to do them! Lol. Thank you. 

Vampyre Neko: Awww! What did you forget? Lol. Ah well, we might one day just be able to kill/flatten ALL the teachers in Beyblade land! We shall wait for that very day to come! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Scarlet Diamonds: HELLO BABES! HOW ARE YOU? I have just recovered from that review you gave me! Lol. Thank you so very much hun! I'm glad you liked it! So… you got my Crimbob card, eh? I'm surprised you could read it. Kai and Rei have the right idea…. Oh and yeah. I got your card too ^_^. Um… a drug addict daisy? Huh? Lol. Nice vanilla coke though! Look out for the note at the end babe! THANK YOU!

Leila5: *Hugz* I'm happy that you like the visions! ^_^. Thank you for your extremely warming review- you are way too kind. Thank you so very muchies! Here is the next chapter!

Wow, that was quite a lot to type! Now, there is a note at the end I would like you all to read. Um… yeah! This chapter is dedicated to Jenny and Linz for being such great people! Oh, and there isn't really a hidden word in this chappie- I didn't know where to put one!

Disclaimer: Ah well. I might as well not be sued, I don't own, okay? GRRRRRR! Damn copyright! 

Chapter Four; Ethereal Battle 

Tyson growled at Sara's challenge and immediately stuck his hand in his pocket to get his bit-beast out, preparing for battle. 

Kai and Kenny noticed this, and Kai stuck his hand out in front of Tyson to prevent him from going anywhere. Tyson looked at his team captain with a confused look on his face.

"Tyson, you can't just run straight in there; I don't have any data about their bit-beasts! It doesn't take a lot of common sense to know that there was something sinister out there in battle that defeated the opponents blade!" Kenny warned, furiously typing on Dizzi. 

Tyson looked to each of his teammates faces in hope of someone arguing with what Kenny had said, but instead he was greeted with nods in agreement.

"You don't have to worry! I can beat these juniors. Come on! I won the World Championships!" Tyson almost pleaded.

"Tyson, what have I told you before? You can't rest on your laurels," Kai said, still not moving his arm to let Tyson pass him. "Just because you won the tournament doesn't mean you can't treat other opponents with caution."

"He's right, Tys," agreed Max.

There was a brief pause with the sound of Kenny's typing.

"Aha! I managed to get some data!" Kenny exclaimed.

The Blade-Breakers waited for Kenny to elaborate.

"Right… come and take look at this guys. It seems that the bit-beast that was just out there was a shadow type," Kenny signalled with his hand and turned Dizzi around so that the group could see the stats of Jenny's beyblade.

Kai grunted and scowled whilst deciphering the information that was being shown to him.

"Shadow type? What kind of attacks would it have?" inquired Max.

"Well, this is where it gets tricky. Apparently, it can change into any natural shape it wants. What you just saw out there was it in its wind shape," Kenny explained. 

Kenny turned the screen back to him and continued to look at the figures on his small laptop. Rei frowned about something.

"Dizzi is unusually quiet today."

"Yeah, well. I figured out that there was a mute button on this," Kenny said sheepishly.  

Rei just laughed.

"If you don't mind, I want to know more about Jenny's beyblade," Tyson cut in, fisting his hand in an impatient manner. 

"What spin gear does it have?" Kai asked.

"Right spin. It's also a mix of defence and offence. Pretty powerful, so be careful if you're gonna accept the challenge."

"I could have told you that," said a female voice from behind them.

Rei spun around to see that Sara had been standing right behind them the whole time, hands on her hips and her foot tapping in an irritated way. The rest of the team followed Rei's gaze and saw Sara looking a bit annoyed over something.

"It's a nymph, called Etherealea, if you wanted to know. Only Jenny has ever seen it out of its shadow," Sara explained. "Can we just get on with the battle? Or are you too much of a fruit to accept?"

The Blade-Breakers frowned. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Fruit?

"She means stupid or weak, you moron!" shouted Jenny from across the dish. 

"I accept!" Tyson hollered back.

Jenny smirked, a malicious glint in her heavily outlined eyes. She shook her purple fringe out of her eyes, the inky blue of the rest of her hair producing through in the light. 

"Tyson! You don't know what you're doing!" Rei said, regarding Jenny at the same time as talking to Tyson.

"Yes, I do, and I have it perfectly under control," Tyson looked away from Rei and back to Jenny.

"I'll battle her," said a voice to his right. Kai had spoken.

"What?" Tyson asked, slightly stupefied. "This is my battle!" 

"No, Tyson. I'm going to battle her. Don't forget who your captain is," Kai warned, a superior glint in his brown eyes.         

Tyson's shoulders slumped in defeat and he sighed, making sure that Kai wasn't going to change his mind by looking at him one last time with a reproachful look.  

"Fine," was all Tyson said, and he walked back over to where Kenny was sat on a small wall. 

Kai nodded and looked back over to Jenny. He was surprised to see that Sara was already over there. He didn't even see her go back over there. Kai gave a smirk of his own to Jenny and noted out of the corner of his eye that Woody was watching him from, somewhere in the crowd that was now around the dish. Murmurs began to circulate around him as he produced his launcher from his pocket and went into his launching stance.

/Bring it on./

"I'd like to make this short and sweet, but I'm too damn good at trash talk to have it over and done with. So prepare to suffer," Jenny grinned as if she'd already won. 

Kai cocked an eyebrow sceptically. She was supposed to take him out? Kai looked at her. If he were to be beaten by this midget then she'd have hell to pay. He loaded his launcher with his Dranzer blade. 

"I'll just have to beat you fast then."

"Three, two, one, let it rip!" 

Both blades landed in the circular dish and began to spin around each other. They moved towards each other as if drawn by a magnet and clashed, flittering sparks cascading into the air. Once they did this, they would move back and then towards each other for another attempt to hit each other out of the dish. Kai gritted his teeth in frustration as once again sparks flew of their blades. This was getting boring. Time to introduce some action. Kai's face changed from an annoyed scowl to a trademark smirk.

"It's time we stopped foolin' around. Dranzer, flame sabre!" Kai commanded, waiting for the image of his Dranzer to appear.

A large phoenix slowly came out of the beyblade and rose above the ground before opening its large flame wings and showing its full size. Its fire blazed vividly, sparkling scarlet. As majestic as ever. Rei rolled his eyes and smiled as loud whispers increased even more. Kai always had to have a dramatic entrance.  

Jenny smiled, but did nothing as the Bit-Beast rapidly advanced towards her blade. However, it seemed that just at the last minute she did actually do something about the future onslaught that her blade was about to take.

"Etherealea- emerge!" 

A slight flickering occurred with the natural light and Kai was suddenly submerged into a negative image of the battlefield. Dranzer sensed something was wrong and was put of his attack- missing Jenny's blade completely.  Kai looked around him.

Everything was turned into reverse; the parts that were light were now dark and what little shadows there were had turned into light. Kai looked over to Jenny who seemed to be happy with the outcome of what just happened. 

"What's going on?" Kai asked, looking around him. 

"Oh, just the effects that happen when I summon my bit-beast. You see, we are the only ones that notice this. Just you and me. Everybody else thinks nothing has happened," she looked at the audience who were now ghostly silhouettes of people, their faces morphed into twisted positions.    

Kai growled low in his throat and tried to look for Dranzer. He grinned when he saw that he could actually see his bit-beast still burning as bright as before. 

"Well, it seems that your little trick didn't work on my bit-beast," Kai crossed his arms over his chest.

Jenny's smile faded and was replaced by a glint in her eye. 

"Ah, you see… I don't want it to work on bit-beats, you'd be able to see Etherealea then."

Kai's eyes widened slightly and he scanned the darkened dish. The beast had gone could not be seen. Damn!

Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He could have sworn that a dark swirl had just moved around him. He continued to look around himself and saw yet another dark flicker- only now it was surrounding Jenny in a protective manner. Kai squinted at where it had been around Jenny as it once again flittered somewhere else. He couldn't see where it went this time.   

"Oh, don't try and look for her- she's just too fast," Jenny mimicked Kai's posture by also crossing her arms over her chest. 

"Etherealea, spirit storm!"

Clawed hands that looked like cracked tree branches raked itself through the flame feathers on Dranzer's head and left just as quick as they came, then even just swift appeared and did the same all over the phoenix's body. Kai frowned as one last time a large hand dragged its hand all the way down the length of Dranzer's body and disappeared. 

His bit-beast roared in pain and threw its head back and screeched even louder than it did the in first place. 

Kai glowered over towards Jenny who was standing there with one hand on her hip and the other hand lifted up. Streams of black were running through her fingers as though it were liquid. A dark shadow had lightly coiled itself around her neck and it was also swirling around slightly. Kai snarled at her and looked over to Dranzer. He seemed to be okay now, considering he had just been cut to pieces. 

Suddenly, Kai had an idea. 

"Dranzer! It's time we showed this rookie how it's really done. Fire arrow- towards Jenny!"

An arm grabbed Kai by the shoulder and roughly turned him around. He looked at the thing that had grabbed him and saw an otherworldly arm attached to a body. Kai studied the face and it hit him that Rei was looking at him rather angrily.

"What do you think you're doing?" he nearly shouted at Kai. "You know not to attack the blader! I thought you would've learned after what happened to me!" 

Rei was outraged. Kai however, didn't seem fazed by this, and ignored all the furious cries coming from the crowd around the dish. He was too busy looking at the battle going on in the dish.

"I know what I'm doing," was all Kai said. He looked up just in time to see Jenny covering her head, but a dark shadow rearing up to protect her at the last moment. It took the blow and then disappeared. He smiled. 

/It's working./

A hand connected with his cheek and a sharp sting followed. He turned and noticed that a) Sara was the one that had slapped him and b) she wasn't affected by the bit-beast's presence on the field. She was perfectly normal, just like himself and Jenny. 

"YOU LITTLE BAG-HEAD!" she shrieked and raised her hand again. However, Rei caught it before she let it fly again.

Kai raised an eyebrow and gave her a puzzled look. She had one weird vocabulary. 

"Bag-head?" Kai inquired, resisting the urge to touch his hair in case he actually did have a large bag on his head. 

Sara didn't answer as a call came form the other side of the dish.

"Jibb it Sara! He isn't worth it!" Jenny threw an evil look at Kai.

Sara huffed and marched away, closely followed by Rei.  

Kai looked back at Jenny and was slightly startled at the fact that she was full out smiling as if nothing better could have happened. She gave him a stern look as if forbidding him to even say anything.

"That was good Kai, but not good enough to beat _me_."

"That's where you're wrong. Just take a look at your beast. It looks pretty worn out," Kai could now see a faint outline of a small creature. Dranzer's arrow hadn't settled with it very well, as it was now becoming more and more visible. 

Jenny looked very concerned over her bit-beast. 

"And now it's getting weaker, it's time to finish this," Kai looked over to his Dranzer who glowed slightly brighter, making Etherealea even more visible. Now was his chance. 

"Dranzer attack Jenny again!"

Kai heard a loud shriek, closely followed by an:

"YOU WILL FEEL MY WRATH, HIWATARI!"

Sara was loud mouthing.

Again.    

However, he concentrated on what was happening in the dish. Etherealea flickered in front of Jenny to save her. 

"Etherealea, MORPH!"

The air surrounding the dish rippled slightly before going back to normal. Kai looked over to Jenny's bit-beast and what he saw shocked him.

It was a nymph made entirely of water. 

Jenny had made Etherealea change into water to counter Kai's flame attack! Why hadn't he remembered that it could change into whatever natural form it wanted to? Kai watched the flame arrow that he had fired towards Jenny hiss and fizzle out as soon as it hit Etherealea.  

Simultaneously, both bladers called out an attack on each other. Dranzer and Etherealea flew towards each other and hit full-force. A loud explosion was heard and smoke clouded over the bey-dish so that neither of the battlers could see the outcome of what had just happened. Kai lowered over his arm that had he had immediately put in his face to protect his eyes. 

Next to him lay his blade, lifeless on the ground. His head shot up to see what had happened to Jenny's blade.

Her's was also not moving.

"It's a draw!" someone shouted from the crowd.

Kai looked around and once again the air rippled, the colour of each person being sucked back into their faces and bodies. His surroundings returned back to normal, and a hand was shoved under his nose. He looked up and saw Jenny offering her hand to shake, and was smiling.  

"A draw isn't a loss," she said cheerfully.

He looked at her offered hand once again. 

/Does she expect me to shake her hand? Huh, not likely./

He nodded and walked away, slipping his blade into his pocket. 

"What up his ar--"

"NO!" Jenny cut off Sara by putting her hand over Sara's mouth.

Kai pushed his way through the slightly angry crowd. It seemed people were still pretty mad at him for attacking Jenny. 

/Not my problem… well, technically it is./

He spotted Kenny, Tyson, Max and Rei still sitting on the wall where he had left them.

"That was a good battle," something in Max's his voice said he thought otherwise.

"Kai, why did you attack Jenny?" Rei asked, standing up to his full height and glowering at Kai. "You know that's against the rules!"

Kai looked over to Jenny who was mucking about with Sara.

"I didn't attack Jenny. Her bit-beast prevented it. It's not like I'd do that if I didn't know what I was going to happen- I knew it would protect her," he replied coolly, shrugging. 

Kenny sighed and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Well, just… don't do it again." 

Rei still looked annoyed, but nodded at Kenny's remark anyway. He gave Kai another pointed look before walking away again.

"Sara didn't hit you hard enough," Kai heard Rei mutter while he was walking away. 

Ooooooooh! 'Lil bit o' tension there! Sorry this chapter wasn't as good…. *sniff*.

Ah well…

Oh yes! Jenny (sherbet mayhem) helped me out with this, so thanks to her. 

And the winner of the hidden word is…

Scarlet Diamonds. Congrats. You were the first person to get it! *hands over Kai merchandise*

Oh, and some of the slang me and Jenny use are Liverpudlian… we are from Liverpool, but not in this fic. 

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!! Tell me if this was any good or not…    


	5. Return of the Bredi

OMG! YAY! I have the next chappie up- NOW! Hehehe, but I think that it's pretty obvious that this is the next chapter… DUH! Um… so yeah, what do I normally do now? Oh yer! Thank all of my wonderful reviewers! ^_^ 

Kai Lovergrl: Hello hun! I can't thank you enough for all those wonderful reviews you gave me! YAY! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou. Lol. Yesh, I love it when people point things out that they love about my fics! It's so warming and cute… YAY! Yes, Kai and Jenny _should_ get together, but not all is so clear, darling! HAHAHAHA! Um… so yeah, thank you again for your wonderful-ness!  

Leila5: YAY! I haven't heard savvy in a while, it's good to smell pirate writing every now and again; in reviews especially! D'ya think this is descriptive? Huh… I don't! Lol. Have a bottle of rum – it's on the fan fiction house!! Yarrrrrr! Thank you verio muchio! 

Amy85: Hola chica! Yes, I did read your bio and I will get round to reading your fic- don't worry hun! Hmm… whom will Kai be with????? You will have to see, as I cannot tell you. It is a secret I will carry to my grave. That is until I post it on the Internet… thanx mate! :)

Lost without you NOT: Hey. Don't do 'you noe wot'! Lol. You're feeling dizzy? Cool. Lol. Hey, you may be right on the pairing there. But you'll never know! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Um… actually you will. Eventually. HAHAHAHAH! Erm… so yeah. Thank you very much for the nice review there. I appreciate every one of them! Oh, and cool name ^_^.

Michellelinzian: Hullo! Yes, a lot of people didn't like the whole 'hitting Kai' thing. Sorry ^_^ but it had to be done! I, myself, like Kai a lot. But of course that's natural. I mean…. I _am_ only human! ;) When I rule the world… I shall own Tala and Kai and Rei and um… everyone else that's fit! YEEHA! But thank you for the review! 

Emerald Skies: *Sighs and shakes head* You've done it again… you've changed your name. Hun, you have to understand that when some people *cough* me *cough* see a strange and new name on their favourite's list they immediately think 'Who the hell is that dolt?' I am saying this for you hun. So smell the cheese and keep this frigging name for more than a week… okay? Lol. But thank you for the review babes! Wow, so many languages… X_x lol. Yes, the text is sent you was strangely sane. One of my only ones that is actually normal, so I hope you haven't deleted it ^_^.  Oh no, I just got back now from my relatives (I will read your fic in a min- don't worry!). Well, it wasn't _that_ bad. But the highlight was definitely my uncle choking on a cheese cracker… *sigh*. Ne ways I'm rambling. Tra! 

Vampyre Neko: HELLO! That was a bit of a short review there, but ah well. After all- a review is a review! Isn't it amazing how I can make conversation for a simple 'Upd8 soon!'? Lol. Thank you so very much anyways!  

Oh, and before I go, don't forget to look for the hidden word. The first person who gets it in my review (_and_ tells me what it is) gets…*rummages through Christmas stocking* um, well, we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it. The low-down on this chapter… its about a week after we joined him on his first day of school. Yup yip pip. Disclaimer; (why do I do these?) I don't think I own this. If I did then I wouldn't really be writing fics about Kai and Rei etc… I would be trying to make them REAL!!!! MWA HA HA HA… yeah. On with the next chapter!!!!   Chapter Five; Return of the Bredi  

"No. There's no way you'll convince me. Nooooooo way. None at all."

Tyson was not deterred by this, and continued his task of pulling at Kai in an attempt to make him move. However, it was failing… dismally. Rei, Max and Kenny were standing by, looking at the scene unfolding before their eyes and shaking their heads in pity. 

"No! Tyson, when are you going to learn? I will not go. Let go of me," Kai's tone of voice was deadly. Tyson just continued what he did best. Bugging Kai. 

"Ah, come on misery guts! It's only an audition," Tyson at this point was almost tearing Kai's shirt off his arm. 

"But it's Romeo and Juliet!" his protests fell on deaf ears. 

/I swear. One day I'll kill him. He'll push me way too far and I'll throw him off a cliff./

Rei joined in the efforts to move Kai to where they were heading; Mr. Drater's drama studio. For Kai, that was the last straw. He'd had enough. Tearing his arm away from a startled Tyson's grip, he spun around to stop Rei pushing him forwards. Seeing Tyson was distracted, he grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and shoved him into an open locker that was nearby, slamming it shut with a small smirk. That would teach him. Muffled protests and banging came from inside the locker. This just made Kai's smirk grow. 

"Listen up while you have the chance, Tyson, I choose what and what not to do. I don't want to go to the Romeo and Juliet auditions, so I wont. Easy isn't it?" Kai looked at the grey metal locker and was happy to hear that Tyson had now stopped banging. 

"Kai, I think you should let him out. He was only trying to get you to do something new," Max suggested and turned away so nobody could see the smile on his face. 

Suddenly there was a loud erupting, very off-putting noise from in the locker…and Kai backed away from the locker, with a baffled yet strangely horrified expression across his face. Rei fell against the wall, and Max covered his nose, as if he'd done this a thousand times. Kenny switched Dizzi on.

"Chief, has there been a nuclear bomb? So…much…GAS!"

Kenny flicked her off and looked at the others, who looked terrified. 

"Run!"

Rei grabbed Kai and they ran in the opposite direction, narrowly avoiding the gaseous scents wafting from within the locker. Tyson had, quite literally, let it rip. That locker would have to be burned later.

/There is NO WAY I'm going to open that locker. I have sympathy for the person that has to open their locker to that smell./

Stifled laughter could be heard that echoed slightly in the small space that there was inside the metal locker. Kai rolled his eyes and the others approached Tyson with caution.

"Alright. Who's gonna open the door?" Rei asked, looking from face to face. No one volunteered for the awful task. "Well, I'll just have to pick then! I'll turn around while one of you gives us all a number," Rei turned so he couldn't see what was happening. Kai looked slightly lost.

_/What the hell…?/_

Kenny pointed to Kai and said he was number three, Rei number four, Kenny number two and Max number one. 

"Done!" Kenny confirmed and Rei turned around.

"I call number… FOUR!"

There was a silence, and Rei's face fell.

"Oh. That'd be me then… can we do this again? Best out of three!" An irate Kai pushed Rei in front of the door and he gulped, raising a shaking hand towards the handle. 

"Hey guys," a female voice called over from the other end of the corridor. Rei couldn't have been happier. 

"Saved by the bell," he muttered, a relieved smile on his face. 

"Hey Woody!" Max said, waving her over to where they were standing.

"Are you off to the auditions?" she enquired smiling slightly.

"Well… sort of," Kenny finished lamely putting Dizzi into his backpack. 

"Well, if you just wait for me I'll put my stuff in my locker and we all can go together!" 

Half-hearted agreements for her idea were heard as she approached Rei. The blader's faces soon changed into ones of horror as she slowly opened the door that Tyson was in. Oh no… she wasn't…? 

Too late.

"EEEEW! What's that… TYSON? What are you doing in my locker?"

Everyone looked at each other, grimacing slightly. Max weakly suggested that they should get going soon and everyone soon nodded and set off at a fast pace towards the drama studio. Kai lagged behind cursing himself for even coming in the first place. Tyson looked behind him to see where Kai was and saw that he was ambling along at the back of the group. A look of determination set on his face suddenly, and he marched up to Kai and grabbed him once more by the sleeve of his white school shirt, dragging him to the front of the group.

"Tyson let go of me! I was going to watch the try-outs anyway! Tyson. TYSON LET ME GO NOW OR I'LL KILL YOU!" he failed to notice that they were in the studio and was causing quite a scene… again. "I SWEAR IT, I'LL KILL YOU!" 

He stopped shouting and heard a round of applause from a small, balding teacher wearing a sharp black suit with a black shirt. His white tie stood out against the dark material and his eyes were shining with delight at Kai. 

"Well done! You shall be… TYBALT! You Tybalt boy," he pointed at Kai, "Are the most evil thing I have ever seen… PERFECT!"   

Kai quickly stopped the look of horror on his face before it had emerged. He watched as the teacher turned back around and walked away muttering about how evil Kai was. He couldn't believe his luck. He was now stuck in a play that he didn't want to do.

Kai imagined himself falling dramatically to his knees yelling, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" with an evil monkey dancing around him. He shook this away quickly.

"Look, uh Mr. Drater. I think you misunderstood. I don't want to do this play," Kai tried to explain, but the teacher was having none of it. 

"Too late, you shouldn't have come to the auditions," he flamboyantly took a bow and waved his hands around extravagantly. Standing upright again he looked over Kai's shoulder. 

"Woody! How are you, little princess?" he asked, walking over to her and kneeling down on one knee.

"Fine sir. And you?" 

He got up and dusted his knees off. Sniffing, he replied:

"I have been better. AH! MAX! I didn't know you were coming! I was about to give Romeo to _this_ dolt!" he pointed violently at Tyson. Kai snorted but covered it up with a cough, covering his mouth to hide the smirk on his face. 

The teacher clapped his hands loudly to get the attention of the students in the circular room. It was then that Kai noticed that Rei was sitting next to Jenny and Sara. In fact, he was the only one left standing. All faces were looking at him expectantly. Well, all except for Jenny and Sara who were amusing themselves by looking at each other seriously and then turning away again, laughing. They continued doing this for a while. Kai took a seat next to Woody and decided it was going to be a long half hour. He noted suspiciously that Sara and Jenny had bags by them with a large parcel sticking out of the top. 

"RIGHT! I THINK WE ALL KNOW WHY WE ARE here," the teacher said the last part so softly it was barely audible. Kai resisted the urge to back away. 

"First up is… RRRRRRRRRRRRREI!" 

Rei's cheeks burned as he stood up and walked to the centre of the circle. He quickly launched into an impressive performance of a few of Benvolio's lines. The teacher clapped and assured him he had got the part. Tyson was called next. He strutted confidently to where Rei had been. 

"WHAT LIGHT through yonder WINDOW breaks?" he yelled hammishly, flailing his hands as if he was drowning. "It is the east… and Juliet… is the WEST!"

Kai buried his head in his hands resisting the urge to smack Tyson again. This couldn't get any worse. Mr. Drater smiled flakily.

"Yes, you can be Lord Montague," Tyson smiled, pleased with himself. "We'll just cut out all of your lines," Tyson's face fell and he walked dejectedly back to his seat. 

"Ah, let's see… Sara!" the tutor instructed, smiling brightly.

"Ah, sir… um, this is a joint effort between me and Jenny!" Sara said, relinquishing the prop from her bag. Jenny followed her into the centre stage, and they both took the paper off their elongated props to reveal…

"Breadsticks?" questioned Max with a cocked eyebrow. 

Jenny and Sara growled at each other, and Jenny spoke to the teacher. 

"Well, sir, we wanted to show our talents in such an original manner…that we've gone for…Star Wars, the Return of the Breadi!"

The teacher rolled his eyes as the two began laying into each other with the breadsticks. Jenny began to yell "Mine's a crust, ya better beware!" and Sara replied manically "Mine's BUTTERED!" She then proceeded to splat a pile of margarine onto Jenny's face. They then noticed that the audience were watching them with bemused, almost frightened looks. Sara stopped. 

"Wait a second. I think I know what's wrong…"

Rei laughed. She'd finally got that they looked like idiots.

"That's right!" agreed Jenny dramatically, "WE FORGOT THE MUSIC!"

The audience groaned as Jenny jogged over to a small CD player and pressed play. She turned to the teacher. 

"We couldn't get hold of the Star Wars music, so…seeing as it's a fight scene…we went for 'The eye of the Tiger' by Survivor. Off the Rocky films."

The teacher sat down, overwhelmed by this show of absurdity, and the music began.

"Dun…dun dun dun….dun dun dun….dun dun duuuunnnn!"

Jenny and Sara, making ridiculous sound effects like "Vwarum, vrarum" whenever they swung their breadsticks, carried on fighting. They were properly beating each other up now. Sara's hair was covered in breadcrumbs, whilst Jenny's face was yellow with smeared butter. Kai sighed. 

/I don't believe this…/ 

Jenny yelled and jumped into the air, brandishing her beaten breadstick like a Samurai sword. 

"WWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Just as she was about to bring her final devastating blow down upon Sara, the teacher stood up.

"I think that's…enough…" he said. 

Sara looked crest-fallen.

"But we didn't do our finale where Jenny jumps off-"

"I said that's enough. Jenny; you can play… Juliet's nurse!"

Jenny jumped up and down on the spot and squealed excitedly, waving her bread stick in the air. Sara glared at her in jealousy and Jenny laughed in her face, but kindly stopped the jumping for joy. 

"Sara don't look so… _sour_. You can play the mother."

Sara's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together.

"Oooh! Which one?" she asked, looking from Jenny to the teacher.

"Both." 

"Huh?"

"Sara, just go back to your seat. You too Jenny," Mr. Drater smacked his head and pointed to their seats. Sara and Jenny looked slightly sheepish and walked back from centre stage. 

"Now those two idiots are gone, who shall I call next? Let me see… MAX! Show us your stuff," the teacher sat back down again as Max made his way to where he was to perform with a small smile.

"Um…I was gonna do the 'palm to palm' speech, but there's no Juliet…"Max's voice faltered. Mr Drater smiled. 

"That's alright. Woody, could you stand in as Juliet?"

Woody gave the teacher a smile and stood up alongside Max. They moved to centre stage together.

Max opened his mouth, and out it came. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this…"

The moment he spoke, the audience were enraptured. They'd had no idea whatsoever that Max was such an actor! His voice was powerful and the tones were dulcet and beautiful. Finally, Woody broke in with Juliet's lines, and the two bantered on, through the soliloquy until Juliet's lines: "Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer…" when the teacher cut them off. 

"Beautiful, you two are perfect!"

/How can Max be Romeo? He's way too hyper./ 

"Sir?" a boy with brown hair, which cascaded into his eyes sitting next to Sara, raised a well built arm. "I'd like to audition next for the part of Mercutio,"

The teacher looked slightly taken aback. 

"Why yes, certainly Josh Traf. It's good to see you want to take part in something," he smiled in a friendly manner at him. 

The jock caught Kai's eyes and smirked at him. 

/What's his problem?/ 

The jock, Josh, continued to sneer at him throughout his audition and Kai grew increasingly uncomfortable. He finished his try-out and the teacher applauded, giving him his congratulations. 

"Mercutio it is Josh, and congrats," he looked around the room. "No more people auditioning? Oh… I thought there were going to be more people than this…" he looked slightly glum but then caught sight of Kenny. "You, boy with the glasses! Can you pull curtains?"

"Uh… yeah I think so."

"GREAT! You get the part of the curtain puller! First rehearsal is tomorrow after school for an hour. Turn up… OR ELSE! Have a nice day," the students got up out of their chairs and began stacking them up before leaving. 

/Well that was… interesting./ 

Kai walked home contemplating what had happened in his day. He had been told of by a number of teachers, nothing new there, he had been forced to accept the part of Tybalt, but at least he hadn't been caned. Rubbing his nose in a stressed manner he noted that there was a slight bump on the end of it. Slightly alarmed, he tried to see what it was by crossing his eyes and concentrating on the edge of his nose. He was focussed on trying to see what it was that he didn't notice he was about to walk into somebody until it was too late. 

"Watch where you're going freak!" said a strong masculine voice to Kai.

"Sorry, it's not like I enjoy walking into people," he said, losing focus on the zit and looking at the person he had bumped into. 

It was Josh.

"Well, just look next time, sharky," the taller boy sneered. 

/Sharky? Is that the best he's got?/ 

Kai just smirked in a secretive manner at Josh walking past him. The one thing he knew was that smirking at someone as if he knew something they didn't really unnerved people. So he did just that. Josh called more threats after him but he didn't really listen. A plop on the end of his nose not only reminded him that he had a huge zit, but also told him that it was beginning to rain. Looking up he noticed for the first time that the clouds were gathered and grey. 

/Great. Just what I need./

Awww! Our poor little Kai is getting gyp from a jock called Josh… how ironic. Don't ask why it is though… I haven't the faintest.

So, did you like? If so, what parts scratched your MONKEY? Lol. 

Kai: -_-* 

Leave a review and try to spot the hidden word or whatever… oh, and before I leave, anyone who wants me to email them whenever a new chapter gets put up just leave your email in your review thingy.  Thanx! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! 

And a happy new year!!!!

REVIEW!

Thank you. 


	6. Cat and Mouse

Hello everyone! How is everyone? I hope you are all fine and have had a great Crimbob! YAY! I got sooooo much stuff. But I cannot be bothered telling you so… on with the thanx! 

Kai lovergrl: Uh yeah. I like Tala. Just a little. Erm… hell no! Did I just say that? I meant A LOT IN FACT THERE ISN'T A BIG ENOUGH NUMBER TO DESCRIBE HOW MUCH! ^_^* Uh yeah. Sorry about that, sometimes it happens. Never mind, I have my dreams. Lol. Thank you sooooo much for that awesome review you gave me. And that nice email. In fact, THANK YOU so much for everything! YAY! *Hugs* I will also say that the breadstick thing in the last chapter- that actually did happen with me and Jenny (sherbet mayhem) in real life. Lol, we were really bored at this buffet and we decided to just launch into battle with breadsticks… there were crumbs everywhere. Oops! 

Othela: Yeah, you're not supposed to like this guy. Lol. Genius. Thank you. 

Vampyre Neko: I'm sure Kai would be great at playing Tybalt. Once evil, always evil. It's what he's like. Tee hee. Oh and you can kill Josh if you want… but I won't. Lol. Thanx for the review. 

Leila5: Hello! Ah, you see, with the potc fics, I barely read them ne more. I will every now and again, but not too often. But its good to see pirate lingo in some of these reviews! Cheers to you too, mate! 

Emerald Skies: Ermm… no. Lol. Jk ya! Tala says thank you and merry Crimbob too, and so do I, but it's waaay past Crimbob to be saying that. Lol. Yes, you get the Rei merchandise this week for being the first to get Josh Traf… fart. You need to let other ppl get the hidden word! ^_^. Never mind… Thank you!

THERE IS NO HIDDEN WORD IN THIS CHAPPIE! 

So enjoy, knowing the fact that I don't own any of this… other than Jen and Sara and Woody… and Josh and the teachers etc. 

Jen: You don't own me.

Me: Yes I do. Now go clean your diaper. 

Chapter Six; Cat and Mouse 

Kai rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in a sullen manner. Why did he even have to do French? It's not like he was going on holiday there anytime soon, besides, his grandfather taught him the basics in almost every European language. He sighed when he heard the drab drone of the teacher from the front of the class. His voice was so expressionless that it was almost like a gramophone on repeat. 

/I'm sure if he tried he could sound a little more suicidal./ 

"Repeate sil-vous-plait," the teacher said, still in an American accent and still sounding like he'd rather be somewhere else. "Je m'appelle… and then say your name." 

The sounds of the students repeating the French sentence in a monotonous tone rang through the grey classroom. Kai heard a few people actually say 'and then say your name', and he shook his head in embarrassment. The supply teacher wasn't very good at controlling his class. Kai vaguely wondered if they were looking for a new French teacher whilst he watched a paper aeroplane launched by Sara. It hit the teacher in the middle of his nose deftly and he picked the paper up on his way over to the cassette player, rubbing a painful looking red mark on the ball of his nose. Throwing it in to the bin, he pathetically glared at the laughing class, who were now hysterical and frankly there was no way he was getting them back. 

"Quelle threw le papier aeroplane? Le own up… NOW!" he screeched in a high pitched wail. Kai wouldn't have been surprised if smoke had popped out of his ears. 

Sara raised her hand, still laughing with Woody, while Jenny gave her a disdainful look. 

"Uh, sir? It was… uh… moi," she bit down her laughter as she saw his face redden.

"Detention! And you get the slipper for wearing pink in your uniform!"

Sara laughed it off and shrugged. She was used to it by now. 

Rei nudged Kai in the ribs and grabbed his attention. 

"I hope they find a new French teacher soon," Rei looked over at the balding supply, "I was already failing French with the last teacher. This isn't helping my examination results, and my hay fever seems to be getting worse and worse! Look!" 

Kai looked at Rei nonchalantly and saw that Reis eyes were slightly bloodshot. 

/Oh no. What a shame, he's dying! Man, what a hypochondriac./

Kai nodded and handed him a tissue.

"There, there," he smirked, rolling his eyes and trying really hard not to look completely uninterested. He was, however, failing pretty badly. Acting was never his strong point. If only Mr Drater would realise that. 

"Class, class! Pay attention… PAY ATTENTION… pay attention…" Mr. Lewis drifted off with a desperate look on his face as he noted that all the class was actually watching a squirrel and a dog playing through the open window. Kai shook his head, but looked over anyway as he was sitting right next to a window. He watched the squirrel run for it's life for a while, slightly amused, and almost felt a little disappointed when it ran up the nearest tree and the dog was left barking on the floor. He smiled, and was about to turn back to the French teacher when a glimmer of flame caught his eye. Frowning, he focused his gaze on the tree. Something red had caught his attention there. His brown eyes flitted up and down the tree. He could've swore that-

"Bonjour, Monsieur Hiwatari, are vous here?" Kai blinked and brought his attention to the snapping fingers in front of his face. 

"Yeah, um… oui," he said, satisfying the teacher by using one French word. 

"Bien," the teacher waddled to the front of the class and pressed the 'play' button on the tape. Some cheesy dance music began to play and the whole class stood up with horrified looks on their faces. They knew what it was time for. Kai looked up at Rei who was looking pretty scared. 

"Aerobics," hissed Rei down to Kai, and Kai simply nodded and looked out of the window again. Whatever he had seen earlier was gone. 

"Uh, sir? Mr. Sir? I can't do this," Woody said, shaking her head. Kai looked over to her waving her arms out of time with the music. "I have asthma and I can't do French for longer than half an hour."

The teacher nodded and excused her. She smiled gratefully and sat back down, pleased that the teacher fell for it. 

"Yeah, I broke my arm!" Sara waved her 'broken' arm around in the air. 

"It didn't stop you from throwing paper aeroplanes at my face." The teacher responded, smirking, finally able to sound smart, "Levéz-vous!" 

Jenny and Sara sat down, perfectly aware that the teacher had asked them to stand up. Kai saw that Jenny kept glancing out of the window too. He frowned and turned back to the teacher who was also waving his arms in time to the music, shouting the occasional 'le jambe!' so the students had to hop around for a while. Kai simply sank in his seat, watching Rei, who looked very unimpressed at hopping about his desk. Suddenly, the music stopped and everyone sat down, relieved. The teacher was telling them to breathe slowly by now; however it was in German, not French. When the bell finally rang the whole class stampeded out of the room leaving Kai, Rei, Sara, Woody and Jenny strolling behind them. 

"Don't forget your detention!" the teacher called after Sara.

"Will do!" she shouted back and 'accidentally' dropped the detention slip in the bin, catching up with Jenny. 

Kai quickly made an excuse to Woody and Rei who wanted to go to the head teacher to complain about the French lessons, and followed Jenny and Sara, not quite sure why he was doing this. He caught up with both of them, quickly grabbing Jenny on the arm and pulling her away from Sara, who didn't notice and carried on walking talking to herself. She wasn't alone for long before Josh walked up to her and began talking with her, flirting obviously. 

"Jenny, can I ask you something?" he asked, turning her to face him and attempting to keep his voice low, despite the many milling students who were making their ways through the slate grey halls. 

"Uh, yeah. If you make it quick," she said, checking her watch, and looking at the exit which lead to the fields behind the French room. 

"Why were you looking out of the window in French?" he got straight to the point.

Jenny gave him a confused look, briefly wondering why he had been watching her. "I was watching the squirrel."  For the first time she looked Kai directly in the eyes, as if daring him to say anything.

Kai narrowed his eyes. "So you like cat and mouse games?" Jenny obviously caught the double meaning and looked very guarded.

"Maybe. But I don't have time for talk. I need to go," she shrugged off his arm and made a beeline towards the exit. Kai waited for a moment, gave her time to get out of the door and then followed her. 

/So someone IS watching me then, huh? She told me more than she realised. But what has she got to do with it?/

Kai peered out of the door, looking for the small figure of Jenny. His brown eyes flashed when he caught her talking to the 'tree'. It was a tall oak, the only tree in the entire field, which in itself was only small and sparse of anything bar a few slowly dying bluebells and the occasional unweeded dandelion. As well as the grass, which was usually under mown and out of control, but today was oddly short and freshly cut. Someone was obviously hidden behind the aging oak. Kai watched on as the conversation unfolded.  

******************************************************************************************************************************

"He knows," Jenny rubbed her face with her hand in a stressed fashion. 

He smirked, keeping in the shade that the tree provided. "I know he does. I wouldn't have expected anything less."

Jenny squeezed her eyes shut. How did she get into this mess? A sudden warmth in her pocket reminded her what it was all for. She got out her blade, which was glowing slightly. Jenny owed him this; he did give her Etherealea, and after all, what were friends for? He had given her bit-beast and had trained her to blade a while ago. Ever since then she felt she owned him a huge favour. Without him she'd be another rookie - without a bit-beast. 

She opened her eyes. "Tala, why are you actually doing this? Why are you following him?" 

"We all work for somebody, kid," Tala was looking at something over her shoulder. 

"What are you going to do to him?"

"That's up to my boss, not me," he retreated slightly and smiled. "But my boss loves to play."

Jenny opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a call from her right. Jenny began panicking and made sure that Tala was concealed before turning to face the person that had shouted her name. 

******************************************************************************************************************************

Kai watched Sara walking over to a slightly flustered Jenny. So something was going on. Kai's suspicions were confirmed when Jenny had pulled out her blade. However, Kai still didn't know fully who Jenny was in league with. His annoyance grew when Kai heard someone calling his name. He turned his gaze from Jenny and Sara to look at who was calling. He forced a smile when he saw that it was the drama teacher. 

"Just to confirm. You WILL come to rehearsals tonight after school," Mr. Drater smiled and walked away from where he came from, calling over his shoulder: "Oh, and tell the others too!" 

Kai sighed and turned back to look at Jenny and was pleased to see that they hadn't gone or moved elsewhere. He continued to watch them. 

******************************************************************************************************************************

"There you are! I was looking all over for you!" Sara ran to Jenny as fast as her pink sandals could take her. 

Jenny tried to smile, but it somehow changed into a grimace at the last moment. She heard the faint snickers of Tala who was still hiding behind the tree.   

"You know, I think Kai's got a crush on you!" she said in a singsong voice, obviously very pleased for her friend. 

Tala rolled his eyes and listened to Jenny's response, smirking again.

"Uh… really? Why would you think that?" Jenny asked coldly although she did feel quite pleased with herself. 

"Because he's watching you from behind the door over there," she pointed densely to the door and waved. "HI KAI!" she shouted from across the fields. 

Jenny snapped her head in the direction of the door, her heart hammering. She caught the glimpse of two grey bangs disappearing from behind the door. Had he seen her and Tala? Sara frowned, not getting why he had moved and scratched her head in thought.  

"Huh? Why did he move out of the way like that?" her face suddenly brightened. "Oooh! I know! Maybe he's following you! Why would he do that?"

"Uh… I don't know," Jenny pretended to look curiously at the door. "But MAYBE he likes you…" just the thing that Jenny needed for a diversion. Sara gasped and smiled brightly. 

"He's okay I suppose… Oh! I have a new crush-thing!" Sara smiled dreamily for a moment, thinking about her new crush. 

Jenny raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? Who?"

"Well, you know that guy that you see sometimes? Um… I'm trying to think of his name."

Jenny already guessed where this was going and attempted to save her friend's dignity. 

"Oh yeah, him!" Jenny said, in the hope of stopping Sara from saying that she liked Tala whilst Tala was actually standing there.

But no. There was no hope.

Sara frowned. "How can you know who it is when I haven't even told you his name? It begins with a 'T'… I think. T-Tyson? No. DEFINITELY not Tyson. Uh… Taylor? No, I'm WAY over him… Oh, I know! It's Tally!"

Jenny cringed visibly and slapped her head at her friend's stupidity. Sighing, Tala stepped from behind the tree. 

"It's Tala," he looked at her and raised his eyebrows at what she was wearing. He knew it was a warm day, but was there any need to wear a pink skirt and a pink short-sleeved top for school? Sara's eyes widened. 

"You could have told me Tally was right there," she hissed at Jenny before smiling at him. 

"Tala! It's Tala! Tal-ah! Please, could you stop calling me Tally?" Tala growled. 

Jenny shook her head. This was going to be a long recess. She glanced back at the door again and sighed. How much had he seen?

******************************************************************************************************************************

"Right! Take a break everyone! You worked hard, well done. Be back in ten minutes," the drama teacher clapped his hands together and walked out of the studio, leaving the students there to choose what drink they wanted from the tray.

Kai grabbed a can of coke and made his way over to where Sara was sitting and talking to Rei. Tyson and Max were goofing off in a corner and Josh was giving him evils as usual. Jenny was busy texting somebody on her phone, and he took the opportunity to talk to Sara. He walked over to the pair and asked Rei if he could talk to Sara alone for a moment. Rei didn't seem pleased at the interruption of his conversation but left anyway. Kai sat down where Rei had been and looked at Sara who was fiddling nervously with the ring on her can. 

"Um, Sara," he began. "Just to ask-"

She interrupted him. "No, wait. I'm sorry if I gave off the wrong impression, but I don't like you that way. I mean, I'm a good looking girl, and it doesn't surprise me that you- you know… and I admire you for trying, but we're just not right for each other," she finished her speech and Kai raised a sceptical eyebrow. "I've done it again, haven't I?" Sara asked, now knowing that he didn't even like her. Kai nodded slowly and she growled. "I'll kill Jenny when I see her! And to think I let her copy my flicks!" she pointed to her eyeliner that flicked out at the side of her eye to make it look like Cleopatra's. 

Kai shook his head but remembered what he came here to talk about. "I need to ask you something. Who was Jenny with at lunch? Now think carefully- cast your memory back a few hours. I know it's hard for you," he raised a patronising hand and Sara tutted with a smile.

"Har, har, very funny," she said sarcastically. "And yes, I can remember. His name was Tally."

Kai stared at her blankly for a moment. "Tally?" he couldn't believe her stupidity. "Did he have red hair, blue eyes, really tall and wore a white suit?" Kai asked, helping her along a bit. 

She thought for a second. "Uh-huh."

"Well then his name is Tala. Ta-la," he said slowly. 

"Oh yeah!" she smiled stupidly but she snapped back to reality when he got up quickly. "Where are you going?" she asked, getting up also.

Kai stopped walking. "Getting another drink," he explained, holding his empty can. He must have been drinking it when Sara wasn't really looking. Sara sat back down and studied the room, bored. Someone sat down by her and when she looked over to him it was Josh. 

"Why were you talking to the freak?"

******************************************************************************************************************************

"Yes! That's fantastic, Romeo! Now, Tybalt enters!" the teacher looked around for Kai. "Tybalt? TYBALT GET HERE NOW!" Kai was nowhere to be found. "He's probably just character searching," Mr. Drater reassured himself. "A true actor indeed. We'll just skip that scene!"

Woody and Rei gave each other worried glances. 

"So in the next scene we have-"

"Sir!" Rei stuck up his hand in air to interrupt the teacher. 

Mr. Drater rolled his eyes. "Yes?" he bit out. 

"Can we go and search for Kai?" Woody asked, concerned at her friend's sub-disappearance. 

The teacher growled and begrudgingly let them go to look for him with the help of Rei's persuasion. 

"Maybe he's fallen off a cliff, ha!" Josh laughed and shook his head. Rei and Woody glared openly at him and walked out on their hunt for Kai. Once they got out of school they discussed some of his haunts and agreed to search the one nearest to the school, the pier that lay about half a mile off. They briskly walked there, asking each other why he would have left so suddenly. 

"What would have made him do it?" Woody asked Rei as he was the one that was closest to Kai. 

"I honestly don't know. He seemed fine when he asked me if he could speak to Sara…" Rei trailed off, thinking off all the possibilities of what could have happened.   

"He spoke to Sara? What about?" Woody scanned the street she was in for Kai. 

"I don't know. Do you think it's something to do with her?" Rei could now see the pier, including the figure leaning against the railing and watching the sun set. The waters of the nearby river scintillated beautifully in the dazzling scarlet rays of the fading orb, slowly being stolen away by the long hours of night. Hints of orange and fiery yellow broke through the greys of some of the gathering clouds, and the figure, as he turned, almost looked as though he were burning in the glow of the radiance. His eyes glittered as his gaze fell upon his two friends come to recover him. 

"Hey, there you are. We've been looking all over for you!" Woody sighed, relived that her friend was okay. 

Rei, on the other hand, was still concerned over something. "What's wrong Kai?" 

Kai was silent for a moment, and then he turned to face the waters again, looking down upon his own distilled reflection.

"He's back."

Woody and Rei frowned and Woody spoke while Rei moved up to the railings that Kai leaned against. 

"Who's back?" Woody asked. 

Rei studied Kai's face pensively and then his eyes, iridescent in the golden sunlight, widened. 

"His grandfather."

OOOH! Don't be evil to Sara please, behind her stupidity she is a nice person… you insult her, then you insult me. And if you wanna insult Jenny, then… go for it! She'll never know… Lol

Leave your email addy if you want me to email you when as chapter gets uploaded. 

Review! 

Thanx.  


	7. The Plan Begins

HELLOOOOOOOOOO! Jah, I know what you're thinking… 'WHAT?!?!? SHE'S UPDATED???' I know, I'm rotten to the core. BUT I've had this ready for about a week, and the next chapter is half done anyways. Sorry! I'd like to say a special thank-you to **Gothic-Kix** for getting by butt into gear- thank you sooooooo much! *hugs*. Also a HUGE thanx to **Emerald Skies **and **Sherbet Mayhem**. All of these authors are FANTASTIC!!! Now to thank the reviewers:

Gothic-Kix: THANK YOU!!!! Have you updated your fic? I'll go and check it out RIGHT now. Thanx for all the reviews you gave me (erm… dunno how many) but honestly- they helped me move a lot. Thank you!!!!

Chiruri-Katsu: Have I spelled that right? Anyway, hehehe, I'm happy you like this ficcy. I do too… sort of ^_^

WulfyBaby: I highly doubt you've read this, Soph, but I'll mention you anyway! Lol. I dub thee, Nutella!

Artemis 347: Hullo. Wow, that was nice to review every chapter, thank you for that ^_^. You say you wish you knew Sara? Well, that's me!! Hehehe, shameless self-insertion there, oh well. I love Tala… *drool* Thanx sooooo much for reviewing!!

Kai Lovergrl: OMG!!! HELLO!! I haven't spoken to you in SOOOOOOOOOO long- I'm sorry!!! I've been sooooo busy at the mo! *hugs* Anyways… ahem. Thank you for your review- I look forward to them all the time. Email me for chatty-chat. 

Lost without you NOT: Yah- poor Kai. Silly gramps, huh? Thanx for the review!

Leila5: Hullooooooo matey ;). How are ya? I'm very happy to hear you're liking this. YAY! Jack says hello by the way! You can have Will… Lol! Thank yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooou.

Emerald Skies: I hate you. HAHAHAHA! Just kidding you kidda bean. Oooooh! They're voodoo dolls? Good good, plenty of Kai torture to come in- oops! Not supposed to give away the plot to Jen's fics am I? Lol. Hmmmm, whan are ya gonna update UTI? Grrrr… *sniffs for some odd reason* 

So there ya go! 

ENJOY!!!!!!!  

Chapter Seven; The Plan Begins   

"Hey Kai! Wait up!" 

Kai turned around in time to see Woody running towards him with books in her hands almost ready to topple away from her very careless grip. She smiled as she caught up to Kai who was standing with his arms folded, and she offered him some of her books to carry. He looked from her to the books in her hand to the hopeful look on her face and sighed, disliking the idea of having to carry some of her heavy textbooks. Then again, he didn't want the humiliation of having to pick up a pile of books from the middle of the street anyway. Woody smiled gratefully and he grunted, taking the offered books from her.

"What's wrong with your bag anyways?" he continued walking and Woody quickly fell into step with him. 

She grinned sheepishly. "Oh, well I kinda ripped it on the way to school this morning."

Kai looked at the pavement for a moment before speaking again. "Why didn't you just go home and get another one?" 

Woody sighed impatiently. "Because I couldn't be bothered. Look d'ya wanna help me carry these or not?" 

Kai rolled his eyes and continued walking in silence. He was busy studying the sidewalk when he noticed that the laces on Woody's shoes were untied. He opened his mouth to tell her this, but he was too late. Woody had already begun to trip on her shoelaces. Kai saw her heading towards the pavement and sighed, dropping the books and catching her before she fell splat on to the floor. Almost shoving her back to her feet before she recovered he told her to tie her shoelaces and picked up the books he had dropped in order to catch her fall. Woody exhaled a shaky breath and observed that Kai was already walking ahead of her… again. 

She shook her head and picked up the books that she had dropped in the process of falling and caught up with Kai again. She practically had to jog back up to him to keep up with his quick strides.

"Thanks for that," she smiled at him but he didn't even look at her.

He grunted. "Like I said, it's easier if you can tie your own laces."

Woody spluttered indignantly and remembered why she had to catch up with him on the way home anyway. Shaking her head she matched the quick pace that Kai was striding at and shifted her books to get a better hold of them. 

"I was wondering if you would like to come out shopping with us today in about an hour," Woody was watching Kai's reaction. 

He thought a moment before replying. "Who's 'us'?" 

"Well, there's me, Rei, Tyson, Max couldn't make it- practising for the play, Kenny couldn't come either, Sara and Jenny. That's about it… I think. Oh yeah, and you, if you're coming," she gave him a hopeful look. It was about time he went out with the rest of the group. All the offers to do something fun Kai had always flatly refused, and it was up to Woody to persuade him to go shopping with them after school. Rei and Tyson were depending on her to try and convince Kai to come with them.       

"Uh… okay then," Kai carried on walking whilst Woody stayed on the spot, her mouth gaping open in shock. She quickly shut it in time to see Kai turn around and wonder why she had stopped once more. 

"Really?" she asked, surprise leaking into her tone. 

Kai rolled his eyes. "Really."

Woody shrugged and told him when and where they were meeting. Waving a final goodbye, she took the books off him Kai walked in side his house, throwing his bag in the corner of the hallway and running up the stairs before his Aunt Maud could interrogate him on his day. 

* * *

He watched the whole thing, hidden from the pair's view. He couldn't help but grin at the fact that he had now found Kai's weakness. Who ever knew it was going to be a girl? Tala grinned as he saw the scene unfold. How obvious was Kai? The way he helped his 'friend' carry her books, the way he caught her tenderly when she fell, and the way they had been speaking to each other. Oh yes, Tala thought, Kai definitely has a weakness. 

With one last sly grin, Tala walked away swiftly to tell his boss the newfound news. Oh, he was so going to get a reward for his hard work. 

* * *

Kai checked his watch and looked around him to see if anyone was going to turn up. He'd been standing there for about fifteen minutes waiting for someone to turn up, but of course, they'd all have to be late. Letting his arm fall down to his side, Kai growled slightly and looked around him once more, before resorting to leaning against the statue in the centre of town that they'd all agreed to meet at. He closed his eyes and thought about some things for a while. 

He was angry with his grandfather. Angry at the fact that he still was turning up unexpectedly in his life all the time. Angry at the fact that his grandfather wouldn't let go of Kai, or leave him be. Angry at the fact that he had to be related to the evil man. 

Kai clenched his teeth together in aggravation. He could look after himself, but why him? Why not some other kid in his school? Why did he have to move his life every time his grandfather came along? He was perfectly happy before he came to this town, well, as happy as Kai could get.   

Kai's thoughts were interrupted when he heard some familiar voices nearby. Opening one eye to look at the time, he saw that he had been thinking for five minutes. The voices got closer and closer until he could hear what they were saying.

"Gosh, does he always fall asleep standing up?"

Laughter. Kai noted that Jenny had said that. He kept his eyes closed.

"He looks about as still as that statue!" 

Some more laugher, Sara had said that. 

"Guys, leave him alone, he always does that when he's having a 'deep moment'," Kai had almost heard the air quotes Rei had spoken. Kai smirked and opened his eyes.

"I'm not asleep."

A few people jumped out of their skin as they heard Kai speak. They hadn't expected that. Rei and Woody were both laughing at Tyson and Sara, who had both squealed slightly. Kai looked at the group. They seemed different out of school, probably because they were in their own clothes. Well, other than Sara and Jenny, who seemed to think it was okay to wear what they wanted in school. Rei and Tyson were wearing their usual clothes. Rei's red bandana with the yin yang symbol on it stood out vibrantly against his thick black hair, and he was wearing his traditional Chinese attire. Tyson had his blue cap shoved over his messy blue grey hair haphazardly. He wore his blue shorts with a yellow top and a red jacket. Woody had her jeans on with a light blue tee shirt on and she also wore a dark blue cap. Jenny had baggy combats on and a black mesh top over a black strap top. Kai briefly noted that this had been the first time he'd seen her without a hoody on. He'd ask about it later if he could be bothered. Sara had her hair down with a skirt that went to her knees and a black strappy top on to match her black flat suede boots. She must have had the biggest shoe collection Kai had ever seen.

"I'm glad you could make it," Kai sarcastically rolled his eyes and stared to walk down the street towards the cinema that they were going to. 

Jenny poked him in the side. "Someone's grouchy."

"Don't touch me."

Jenny's smile faded slightly at the pointed look he was giving her. The others snickered at Kai's unsocial behaviour, not getting the point. 

Rei and Sara were walking at the front of the group, casually chatting to each other. In fact, Sara was doing most of the chatting; Rei was just staring in disbelief at the fact that she could talk so much. He wasn't really paying much attention to where he was heading. He just watched Sara chatting and waving her hands about to help illustrate what she was saying. 

"Oh yeah, I was like at this place, and it was going 'Burn baby BURN!' and they were selling all this merchandise for like, loads of dosh."

Rei frowned, and tried not to laugh at her crazy disco movements.

"What's… uh… 'dosh'?" he asked, watching her movements cease for a second.

"Money."

"Oh. You have some crazy words,"

Sara laughed and nodded watching the path ahead. Rei still wasn't looking at where he was going. He continued walking until-

"REI! Watch out!" Woody shouted, but it was too late. 

A sharp pain moved throughout Rei's lower abdomen. He stopped in his tracks and doubled over in agony, holding his groin. He reeled backwards away from the fire hydrant that he had just walked into, seeing double. Rei heard a few grimaces from the males of the group. 

"Oh my… Rei, are you okay?" Sara and Jenny rushed back to check if Rei was okay. Rei nodded slowly, wincing.

Sara helped him stand up straight by putting her arm around him for support.

"Rei, do you have eyes?" Kai asked, looking at him with an almost sympathetic look. Almost.

"Uh… yeah…?" Rei wasn't sure where this was heading.

"Are you blind?"

"No…"

"Well, why don't you use your eyes in the future and stop drooling over Sara so you can see where you're going?"

"Ouch," Woody said, laughing at the shocked faces of Rei and Sara. Jenny joined in with Woody, smirking at the pair. Sara rolled her eyes.

"Come on Rei, let's go," Sara walked ahead of the group, still helping him walk. 

The group continued their trek to get to the small cinema. When they reached there they were faced with a small problem.

"No way are you getting me to see that!" Woody was shaking her head firmly at the choice of film that the others had chosen to see. "You know how I am with gore, the Last Samurai is the LAST film you're gonna get me to see."

Kai snorted. "Well, if you're too much of a wuss…"   

Woody nodded and smiled. "Glad you got to see things my way." 

Rei sighed and shook his head. They had been arguing about this for the past ten minuets and he'd had just about enough. "The film's gonna start soon, guys." Rei checked his watch. It was five minutes to five. The film was due to start at five and they hadn't even got the tickets yet. 

Woody sighed. "Look, I know you all really want to see this film," there were a few shouts of agreements at Woody's comment, "And I don't. So why don't you just go… and I don't?"

Tyson cheered and grabbed Jenny and Kai's arms, dragging them towards the queue for the tickets. 

"Tyson, get off my arm." 

Tyson dropped Kai's arm as if it had burned him. 

"Thank you." Kai turned to Woody. "Will you be okay walking alone?"  

Woody snorted. "Well, this town is sooooooo big and dangerous," she waved her arms in mock distress. Kai rolled his eyes.

"Fine. See you at school tomorrow."

Woody laughed and patted his arm, saying goodbye to the others. They all waved back at her and Tyson continued dragging Jenny to the ticket queue.

* * *

"That was so sad-" a sob cut off what Sara was going to say next. "He… he…"

"There, there dearie," Jenny patted Sara on the shoulder and raised her eyes skywards. Nobody else in the group cried at the film. "Think of how happy Bob was."

They all laughed. "Bob, are you a ladies man? I know why you're quiet, they make you wear a dress, don't they Bob?" Tyson quoted. 

Sara smiled sadly. "I bet you he… he… DIED!!!" She sobbed again. 

A person walking into the next viewing of the Last Samurai gave Sara a particularly dirty glance. She'd obviously just spoiled the ending for them. Sara seemed unaware of the fact that she was spouting the plot to the whole cinema in between her rather hysterical wails. She dabbed her eyes delicately in fear of smudging her eyeliner. Rei laughed.

"Could you understand a word they were saying, Rei?" Sara asked hopefully.

Rei frowned slightly. "Uh… no, I'm Chinese, not Japanese."

"But… aren't they the same place?" Sara blinked slightly.

"No."

"Oh… that explains the bad grade in geography then."

"Yeah." 

"Sorry."

"No problem." 

"But I am…"

"S'okay."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

"ARGHHH! Will someone give me a ring when the conversation comes back to life?!" Jenny asked. Kai smirked and Tyson snorted. 

"Sorry…" Sara trailed off and blinked again. "So…. What were we talking about?" 

* * *

Kai kicked the empty can along the walkway. He decided to head home straight after the movie, whereas the others decided to go back to Rei's for something to eat. Guess who's that idea was. Kai rolled his eyes at the thought of Tyson eating even more food after the extra large tub of popcorn that he consumed at the film. 

He couldn't see much. For a summer's night it was pretty chilly, and the moon was overcast with heavy grey shadows. All around him were the looming shadows of the houses and trees, their spindly arms reaching out along the pavement bizarrely. The dark air around him hindered his vision a little, and it was difficult to distinguish whether the movements around him were shadows or whether there was something he'd missed slinking around from the back alleys to the fore run of the street. He shivered, for some unknown reason, and then continued, rounding the corner to his street. Oddly enough, he would feel glad to get home to the warm house and his aunt's regular squeals of "Kai, you shouldn't be out this late! The streets are no place for a young boy!" Yeesh. 

Kai was turning the corner that led to his road when something caught his eye – despite the blackness that was closing in around him. Frowning, he walked up to it, trying to decipher what it was, having some difficulty because of the dim lighting of the street lamps. Picking the object up, he studied it closely before it hit him what it was. 

Woody's cap.

/What's her cap doing in the middle of the street?/

Kai looked around himself cautiously as if expecting the answer to jump out at him from the looming shadows. He decided that the best thing to do was to return it back to her house. That way he could make sure that she was safe, kill two birds with one stone. 

He jogged up to the gate and slipped through it quietly, conscious that it was getting late. Looking around for a moment, he slid up the path and enjoyed the feeling on the even footpath leading up to Woody's front door. He studied her cap again, not looking at where he was going. Kai felt the level of the ground change, and realised he'd stepped on something as a loud crack almost echoed through the silent street. He froze on the spot. He didn't want to look at what he'd stood on. He closed his eyes and opened them again, looking down.

A slender arm was poking out from the bushes at the side of the front garden. 

Kai throat went dry, and he swallowed loudly, not daring to move. But soon curiosity got the better of him and tugged at the cold arm, hoping to remove a prosthetic arm from the bushes. 

Pity.

Gradually, he removed what was jammed behind the small leaves and branches.

Kai leaped back and opened his mouth to cry out, but he couldn't. The image of her eyes wide open burned into his mind and he squeezed his eyes shut once again, not wanting to believe what he had just seen. 

/It's just a dream… it must be./ 

Sick rose up in his throat and he had to swallow it down before opening an eye. Shakily, he raised his hand again to check if her body was still there. Hoping he was just imagining it.

Her eyes were still open, staring up unseeingly at him. They were empty. Void of any emotion. Emptiness reflected inside of them. 

Kai fell to his knees and scrambled backwards away from the body, not wanting this to be happening.

It was. 

And lying before him was the lifeless corpse of…

/No…/

HAHAHAHAHA! Left you at a bit of a cliffy there, didn't I? MWAHAHAHA! I've had fun writing this chappie. 

So, tell me what you think and maybe I'll update a wee bit faster.

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!

Tra. 

Oh, and I don't own the Last Samurai… or Kai… or Tala… or any beyblade characters. Damn…


	8. Stares

Hello peoples! How are you all? Sorry it's taken me a while to update, but erm… well… my SAT's are coming up and erm… no… I don't revise for anything, what am I on about? Nothing that's what. Well, I'd just like to say a very special hello to **Vampyre Neko**, **Emerald Skies**, and **Dudems**. On with the reviewers thank you's!

**Dudems:** Thank you x 6. Yay! You read this! *glomps* EVERYBODY!! Very cool person off TnK that I'm saying thank-you to here! ^_^ Thanx hun! I shall pass the message onto Reiko. 

**Artemis:** Hmmm, Tala's being a bit naughty, isn't he? *drools* I'll go and spank him now, eh? Lol. Well, I updated as fast as I could be bothered. ^_^ Fanx.

**Fateamber Emberz:** Hullo hun! Ya'll right? Well, if you haven't read this then… uh…. Why am I… gahh. I was never any good at math. 

**Emerald Skies:** Who? Who are you, eh? Lol. *hugs* I will beat them up if you want me to you know, I'm tough, I go to Rocky *puffs out chest and smirks* See? I'll crrrrrrrush 'em like a woooooorrrrrm. Be careful with those Voodoo dolls, they hurt ya know! Lol. Thanx hun!

**Gothic-Kix:** Yes, I killed a girl. Yes, the Last Samurai kicks ass. Yes, this is an update. Yes, this is a thank you. ^_^ When are you updating again? Or have you *goes and checks again* Hmmm…

**Serena-loves-anime: **Erm… I'm glad you find my stuff funny. But you do realise that the murder was real? Lol, I like it when people find my humour funny… thanx hun! YAY! I have a fan! ^____^ *glomps*

**VAMPYRE NEKO:** ^_^ There, is that clear enough for ya? My most loyal reviewer… I'm ashamed of myself. Sorry hun! ^______^ Why couldn't I kill Sara? Hmmm… Good question, and if Emerald Skies is reading this then she will be laughing her ass off. Well, thanx for the review! 

ON WITH THE CHAPPIE!!!!!! Oh, and anything with '/' surrounding it should be in italics… just in case ff.net doesn't work again. 

Chapter Eight; Stares 

"On a sadder note, Grassville High has been closed temporarily due to a murder of one of the pupils that took place on Monday evening. The school pupil, Betty Lockwood, was known as Woody amongst her friends. Police are investigating all the possibilities of what could have happened that night, and are urging any witnesses to come forward if they have any information. The school is very distressed, and the head teacher, Mr. Newman, offers his condolences to the family and friends of-"

Jenny clenched her teeth together and flicked through the channels, tears threatening to spill over her eyes at any moment. It seemed that everything was reminding her of Woody's murder. She couldn't believe that one of her bests friends were gone. Forever. And it was all her fault. She closed her eyes and images filled her head.

/"Why did you have to do it? Why?" she screamed at the top of her lungs and flailed her fists at him. Her throat was raw from crying and screaming. He blocked her attacks with ease and watched her as more tears spilt over her already red and puffy eyes. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. If she closed her eyes at all, she would see Woody's face smiling at her.

"I had to."

"NO YOU DIDN'T!" She didn't care who heard her. She had gone way past caring by now. Anger was boiling inside her for being so stupid. For being so naïve and easily manipulated into doing things for him. It was all her fault; she led him to Kai. She led him to Woody. She led him to her friends. 

It was all her fault./

She felt even more tears trickle down her cheeks. She didn't bother to wipe them away. 

All this for a stupid bit-beast. 

Jenny got up from her chair in the lounge and searched for her blade. She eventually found it stuffed away in one of the draws in the kitchen. Letting her feet lead her back into the lounge where the television was playing another news report on Woody's murder, she sat back down in her chair. For a while she sat, just looking at Etherealea, taking in everything about it. Drinking in as much as she could before she was going to give her up.

She'd decided to give up the beast as soon as she heard what happened. She didn't want to work for Tala and his stupid top-secret group that he worked for. If he had any sense he'd leave too and never look back. Fisting her hands, she looked back up at the screen. A picture of Woody was being shown and Jenny bit her lip, her form shaking slightly. 

She was glad that she didn't find Woody's body. Jenny knew that she would have thrown up on the spot and collapsed, not knowing what to do. In fact, Jenny did that when had she first heard the news. Everyone had been in a state, not knowing who to talk to or who to turn to. The school offered some counselling and closed for the rest of the day. Everyone was so quiet; it was like someone had pressed a mute button on the entire school. The pupils were jumpy, and any noise would startle them. The Head decided it was best for the school to close for the rest of the week, and Kai was called in for questioning.

He took it the worst. He'd only been in this town for a little while, and now he had to put up with this. On the Tuesday morning no one knew what had happened, and Rei, Tyson, Jenny, Sara Kenny and Max were all worried as to why he had huge bags under his eyes and why he looked pale. Then the head called all seven of them to his office to break the news to them first. That's how they found out about Kai finding her body. Poor soul, he'd gone through a lot. 

Jenny switched the television off and wiped her face before breathing in deeply. It was going to be hard to give up Etherealea, but she had to. For her sake. For Woody.     

She got up and put her black chunky coat on, checking what time it was with the clock that was on the wall. Two o'clock. She was supposed to be meeting Tala right now outside her school gates. 

Putting Etherealea the pocket of her black combats, she sniffed once more before shouting upstairs to her mum that she would be back in half an hour. Jenny slammed the door behind her and walked at a brisk pace towards where she was meeting up with Tala. Her face was set into a determined snarl the moment she caught sight of his flaming red hair. He looked at her in the eye and a shiver went up and down her spine at the frosty stare he was giving her.

"You're late," he smirked and leaned against the gates of the school. 

Jenny growled low in her throat. "I don't care."

Tala sneered and looked around his surroundings. Everything was so quiet.

"Well, why did you want to meet up with me?" he asked, cutting straight to the chase. He had a tight schedule to keep, and he wasn't about to let Jenny ruin it.

"I… look, can we go somewhere where no one will be able to see us?" Jenny was getting uncomfortable at the stillness of the school. 

Tala shrugged and led her to the fields at the back of the school. They got walked up to an ageing oak tree that stood alone at the edge of the field.

Tala turned at looked at Jenny, his gaze unfaltering. "What is this about?" he asked her again.

Jenny shifted her feet, slightly nervous. She had planned what she was going to say to him this morning when she asked him to meet up with her. But now she was here, and was facing him in person, he seemed a whole lot scarier. 

Tala sighed, getting slightly impatient.

"I didn't kill her," he said, ignoring the look that Jenny was giving him. 

She glared at him with fury. At first, words failed her, but she soon found them again. "How… how DARE you deny that? How DARE YOU? I-"

He cut her off from saying anything else by shouting over her. "I DIDN'T kill her!"

Jenny couldn't speak; she was shaking with rage that she had never felt before.

"Oh, so she just happened to strangle herself, did she?" the voice that Jenny spoke in was so calm it even unnerved herself.

Tala snarled. "I did not kill her. I just sent some information to Bo---" he widened his eyes and cut himself off before he blabbed anymore secrets.

Jenny narrowed her eyes into slits. "So. You just toddled off to you big FAT boss and told him… told him what? What exactly did you tell him Tala?" she was walking towards him, and with each step she took she grew angrier. "Because I don't think getting another henchman to murder Woody has anything to do with SPYING ON KAI HIWATARI-"

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID GIRL!" Tala shouted down at Jenny, wanting the whole neighbourhood to find out what was going on. Jenny stood, stunned for a moment. "I can't tell you why. I just can't, trust me, okay?"

Jenny halted. She had to tell him now; she had to tell him that she was leaving. She had to tell him that she never wanted to do anything or see him ever again. 

"Well, don't rely on me in the future to tell you anything Tala, I'm leaving. Here, have your stupid bit-beast," she said bitterly, and she shoved Etherealea into his hand, walking away. 

Before she knew it Tala grabbed her and threw her into the tree, winding her. He grabbed her by the neck and held her up against the oak tree. She couldn't breathe, and she tried to pry his hands away from her neck, but his grip was too strong. She was struggling for air.

"Now, listen now because I wont tell you again, got it?" Tala looked at her, waiting for her response. She nodded as best as she could. "Good," he still didn't let go of her neck, and she was beginning to see black dots dance in front of her eyes. "You cannot leave. Once you're in, you're in. Believe me, I know," Jenny's eyes widened. "You know too much to leave. You walk away from us; you might end up in the same state as Woody. You don't want that do you?"

Jenny shook her head and he let go of her neck, leaving her on the floor gasping for precious air and rubbing her neck tenderly. 

"Oh, you can have this back," Tala dropped her blade onto the ground in front of her. "I'm sure you'll find it useful." He turned around and walked away. "Oh, and one last thing," he looked at her from over his shoulder. "If you tell anyone about this, then you will end up dead. Do I make myself clear?"

Jenny nodded slowly, pocketing the blade. "Inescapably clear." 

***************************************************************************************

Rei ran his hands through his tangled hair and looked across his sofa to see if Sara was still sleeping. He couldn't believe the past two-day's events. The whole thing had happened so fast, it all seemed like it was just a very convincing dream. At first all he felt was nothing- numbness washed throughout his whole body. When the Head told him that Woody had been murdered his mind couldn't digest the information. Everything just went blank and then crashed around him. That's when he felt tears prick the back of his eyes. That's when Jenny collapsed. That was when everyone sobbed. Kai and himself were the only ones that didn't cry. Kai stared into space, his face blank and ashen, his eyes telling everything. Rei had felt sick and weak. It was so weird not having Woody around now. 

Rei looked back towards Sara again. She had taken it pretty badly. Soon exhaustion from all the crying set and she had to get to sleep. Rei offered for her to go to his house and she'd agreed. 

He sighed. Who would do such an awful thing like murder? Rei shook his head and decided that maybe having a nap was a good idea.   

***************************************************************************************

"Hiwatari! Pay attention!"

Kai's head jerked up and he blinked a few times before focusing on what the teacher was saying to him. Why was he falling asleep all of a sudden? Maybe a week with only a few hours of sleep was finally catching up to him. He stifled a yawn.    

"What would be the answer if N was seven?" the stern-looking female teacher was looking down at him, her squared glasses perched on the end of her pointed nose. 

Kai blinked, and beside him he heard Rei mutter a number. He didn't quite catch it though, and me swallowed before answering. "Uh… twenty-five?"

The class tittered and looked at him. The teacher's expression hardened and she walked up to his desk, the sound of her heels clicking on the floor echoed throughout the now silent classroom. Kai looked up at her from his rather slouched position on his chair and blinked.  

"No, Mr. Hiwatari. But I would like to know how you worked the equation out to get that answer," Mrs. Thatcher asked, pushing her glasses up her nose with her index finger. Her eyes narrowed.

"Well, I didn't work it out. Rei told me the answer," Kai pointed his thumb to his right, where Rei was quickly pretending to scribble the equations out that were currently written on the blackboard in curly handwriting. 

The teacher looked at Kai, and sighed, turning back to the front of the desk where she wrote something down on a red piece of paper. When she had finished, she handed the note to Kai and continued to teach whilst Kai red the note. 

It was a permission slip to get out of lesson… to see the school nurse. 

/What…?/

Kai looked around him and got up out of his chair, putting his things into his bag, trying to ignore the weird looks that the students were giving him. He left the room, slamming the mahogany door behind him and walked down the corridor where the school nurse's office was. He knocked on the door three times before going inside the room.

Kai's eyebrows rose. The room was decorated in a warm peach colour and had a soft, thick, terracotta carpet down on the floor. Large windows let the autumn sunlight filter into the room, creating an even more welcoming look, and he could see the school fields from where he was standing. He gazed at the solemn looking oak tree at the back of the fields, it's russet and red leaves were scattered on the ground around it, and the last few leaves on the branches were swaying feebly in the light breeze. Kai saw another leaf fall of the tree, and his stare turned to the school nurse sitting at a large wooden desk in front of one of the large windows.  

The school nurse looked up at him and smiled warmly, pushing some greying, short blond hair out of her cheery blue eyes that were surrounded by laughter lines. She motioned for him to sit down in a chair that was set out in front of the desk.

"You must be Kai Hiwatari," she said kindly, glancing at her notes quickly before shutting the brown file and placing it in a draw. She looked back at him again, and clasped her hands together on the table. 

"Yeah… uh… why am I here?" Kai took another fleeting look about the room. 

"Well, the school have noticed a slight… how should I put this? Well, we've noticed that your work is going downhill slightly. You behaviour has also deteriorated. I'm actually quite glad your teacher has sent you to me." 

Kai rose an eyebrow.         

"Now, is there anything that you would like to tell me?" the nurse said, smiling encouragingly. Kai's bloodshot eyes closed briefly, before he opened them again. 

"No."

The woman's smile faltered a little before she continued. "Kai, I know how hard it must be for you. Woody's funeral was last week… but you have to try and talk to someone about what happened-"

"You have no idea what I'm going through," the tone in Kai's voice had left an uneasy silence in the room. "You have no idea what it's like, going to so many police interviews, being asked what happened, having that one moment resurface every time you close your eyes. Seeing her eyes. You have no idea what hell I am going through at the moment."

Kai stood up out of his seat so violently that the chair was knocked onto the floor, but he didn't care.

"Kai, we're here to help," the nurse offered weakly. 

"Well, you can't," he muttered, before turning around and leaving the room, fury and anguish embedded in his eyes, the dark rings surrounding them making the look even darker. He just needed to get out of there. He needed to get away from the pitying glances and stares everybody he walked past gave him. He just wanted to get things back to normal again- to forget Woody. 

But to forget her would be like murdering her all over again.

The police still hadn't found the culprit. There had been a struggle, but no DNA was discovered on Woody's or in the area that she was found in. 

Kai ground his teeth and his pupils contracted into tiny dots. He knew perfectly well whom it was that did it though. It was just the case of convincing the police, but they wouldn't listen. 

***************************************************************************************

Jenny winced and adjusted the scarf around her neck that was covering the yellowing bruises that were on her neck. She open and closed her eyes slowly and ran some cold water from the tap in the girl's school toilet. Splashing some of the running liquid on her face, she studies herself in the mirror with hatred. She was such a coward. Why couldn't she just leave and tell the police everything? It didn't matter what happened to her, it was for Woody. But when she had stood outside the large foreboding brick building of the police station, she found that she couldn't do it. She couldn't help her friend.

"Hello? Jenny, are you even listening to me?"

Jenny started and her heart rate went through the roof. 

Fingers clicked in front of her eyes.

"I said, Jenny, don't do that- you'll ruin your make-up."

Jenny nodded and asked Sara for a tissue to dab her eyes with. Sara frowned down at Jenny as she watched Jenny's movements.

"I still don't know why you wear that stupid scarf," Sara commented, looking back to the mirror and adjusting her hair so that it didn't stick out as much. 

Jenny snorted and shrugged; still making sure that the fading bruises couldn't be seen on her neck. 

"JENNY!"

Jenny blinked again and turned to Sara. 

"Wha…?"

"Jen, I've just been talking to you for the past five minutes and you've just been spaced out, ya fruit! Are you sure you're okay?" Sara looked on at her friend with concern. She'd taken Woody's death pretty badly. 

"Yeah… I'm fine, honestly…" Jenny trailed off and she couldn't bear to meet Sara's eyes. "Look, why don't you just walk on ahead; I'll be fine."

Sara choked in surprise, and she gasped. "Jenny, what the hell is wrong with you lately? You never walk on your own! First it's spacing out, then it's not eating my cake, then it's-"

"Just go!" Jenny glared at Sara and Sara nodded silently and made her way past Jenny, glancing over her shoulder one last time before leaving the toilets. Her eyes filled up with worried tears. What was happening to them? She missed Woody too, but after the funeral, Sara thought it was time to move on. It's what Woody would have wanted. Well, at least she thought so. She sniffed and straightened up before searching for a familiar face in the corridor that she was in. 

No one that would understand her problem was anywhere near her.

She looked down at her polished black shoes and decided that maybe Jenny would never get over Woody's death. Maybe nobody would.   

***************************************************************************************

Rei sighed and looked around the drama studio that he was standing in. The school rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet were a shambles. With the fact that Woody was Juliet, the drama teacher was currently trying to decide who was going to take over Woody's part. 

"The show must go on!" he had shouted, though Rei was able to see the corners of his eyes glistening slightly. 

His part of Benvolio had been unaffected by Woody's death. Rei looked at the ground and shook his head. Max had given up the part as Romeo as well; leaving the two main roles open for Mr. Drater to pick two other people to play them. Max said that he felt weird playing the part or Romeo when Juliet had been murdered. 

"Hey Rei," a female voice spoke softly from besides him, making him jump slightly. Rei smiled when he saw who it was.

"Oh, hi Sara. What are you doing all the way over here?"

Sara looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like the studio is the size of America. I just saw that you looked a bit down, that's all."

Rei nodded and Sara stood, waiting for him to say something. When Sara realised that Rei wasn't going to speak, she decided that she would make the first move.

"So… did you realise that your name rhymes with 'hey'? So when people say a casual hello to you, it sounds like a rhyme."

Rei blinked and then laughed. "Only you would tell someone that. And yes- I did realise."

"Oh…" Sara said, fidgeting slightly at the silence that fell between the two again.  

"LADY MONTAGUE! BENVOLIO! You are needed on stage!" Mr. Drater waved his script around and pointed to the stage where Sara was needed. She sighed.

"Well, we gotta go, our carriage awaits," she smirked and looked at the carriage that was set up on stage. Rei smiled and walked with Sara to do his scene.

The door to the drama studio slammed open and a tall boy strutted inside confidently with a sneer planted on his pale face. The drama teacher motioned for everyone to be silent as he introduced the new student.

"Everybody, I want you to take a good look at our new Tybalt!" Mr. Drater spread his arms as if waiting for applause. 

"But I thought I was Tybalt," came a voice from the back of the studio. Kai stepped forwards and openly glared at the tall teen. 

"No, no, no, no. You are Romeo," Kai's face paled considerably. 

"Wha…what?" Kai stood with his mouth agape. No WAY was he going to be Romeo. There was no chance in hell. 

"Yes. Meet your new Juliet," the teacher motioned for someone out of Kai's eye line to walk advance into the light of the studio. 

"Romeo, Kai Hiwatari, Juliet, Jenny O'Hare and Tybalt… Tala Valkov."

Erm… That's about it. Yup. So, will you review and be nice for me? ^_____^

Bye for now! Oh… and sorry if it was crap. 


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